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PETROLEUM 


AND 


NATURAL GAS 


A Short Treatise on Their Early 
History, Origin, Distribution, Ac¬ 
cumulation and Surface Indications. 
Relating More Especially to the 
Gulf Coast Country. 


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“Not How Much, But How Clearly 


The Information from Many Pages Selected, 
Simplified and Condensed Into 64 for the 
Use of the Average Busy Citizen 


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COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY 

L. M. WILSON, HOUSTON, TEXAS 




Price, 65 cents, post paid 


Copyright 1916, by L. M. Wilson 








Page 

Preface ..... 1 

CHAPTER I. The Early History of Petroleum and Gas. 3 

CHAPTER II. The Origin, Distribution and Retention 
of Oil and Gas...... 5 

' ' - ' • • ■ > ■ : - - ■ 

, CHAPTER III. The Writer's Theory of the Origin, Dis¬ 
tribution and Retention of Oil and Gas.. 13 

CHAPTER IV. The Accumulation of Petroleum and Gas... 22 

CHAPTER V. Surface Signs of Petroleum.. 34 

4 

CHAPTER VI. Oil Wells. What Are Some of the Causes 
of the Decline in the Yield of Oil Wells?.. 41 

CHAPTER VII. Oil Fields. The Water, Oil and Gas of 
Oil Fields... 50 

CHAPTER VIII. Have I Oil on My Land?. 58 


*1. M. HOGAN, PRINTER, HOUSTON. TEXAS 













PREFACE. 


Comparatively little is known about the origin of oil and 
gas, about the origin and formation of the reservoirs that now 
contain them, about the laws that govern their distribution 
and retention, or about the surface indications of their pres¬ 
ence below in commercial quantities. 

A great proportion of that known, or of the theories ad¬ 
vanced regarding such information, is, perhaps, carefully 
guarded as a secret by people who prize it as an asset of their 
business. 

Many of the bulletins and technical papers prepared by 
scientific men in the employ of the United States Government 
for distribution, which treated of these topics, are out of print 
and can no longer be secured. 

Since there is a dearth of books treating of these subjects 
which offer study to those interested in them, and since many 
of those once in print are not now available to the reader, the 
writer has undertaken to produce a book that will answer the 
questions of “the one interested,” by compiling from the best 
known authorities answers to those questions. 

The following named bulletins have been largely used in the 
compilation of the answers, in securing a short history of 
some of the oil and gas fields, and in compiling much other 
information which is given in a condensed form in this book. 
Acknowledgment is given at this place since it cannot be given 
with each answer as it would require too much space: U. S. 
Geological Survey Bulletins Nos. 212, 250, 264, 282, 309, 429, 
475, 619 and 629; U. S. Bureau of Mines Technical Papers 
Nos. 10, 32, 38, 51, 66, 70 and 72. 

I recommend that those interested in' matters of science and 
economy write to the Superintendent of Public Documents, 
Washington, D. C., for price lists, as many valuable books 
may be purchased there at cost. 

What the writer has given as his own observations, experi¬ 
ences, theories and views, he has carefully branded as such and 
the reader is not asked to give them weight only as they appeal 
to his own judgment as deserving of consideration. This part 
of the book is submitted by the writer without a claim for his 
fitness for the task undertaken, without an apology for its 
attempt. While he has made this phase of economic geology a 
study for a number of years, he has found that each succeed¬ 
ing year has but taught him how little he knows, and how. 
imperfectly he knows the little. 


The Writer. 




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CHAPTER I. 

The Early History of Petroleum and Gas. 

What of the early history of gas and petroleum? 

(Pages 1 and 2, Vol. 1, West Va. Geolog. Surv.) 

The early history of petroleum and natural gas is much the 
same in every country where they occur. In China the utili¬ 
zation of natural gas antedates authentic history. In Persia, 
Arabia, India, Albania and other countries, rock oil or petro¬ 
leum and its residuum, pitch, have been in use for many cen¬ 
turies, as attested by such writers as Aristotle, Strabo, Plut¬ 
arch, Pliny, Marco Polo and others, while the mines of the 
Ancient Temple of the Parsees or Fire Worshipers at Baku, 
where natural gas and petroleum have been issuing from the 
earth and bubbling up through the waters of the Caspian Sea 
for untold ages, simply accentuate the story of every other 
country. 

The ancient gravel pits near Titusville, Penn., show that 
the American Indians had some knowledge of the value of 
petroleum before the white man had invaded the region. And 
it is quite probable that the “burning springs” and outflows 
of petroleum on the Little and Big Kanawhas, Big Sandy and 
other streams of West Virginia had already attracted the at¬ 
tention of the aborigines, and that they were making use of 
them in their primitive way long before the first white settlers 
crossed the Alleghanies. * * * * * it is no t generally known 
that all the essential elements of the petroleum industry of the 
United States really originated in what is now West Virginia, 
but such is the truth of history. 

It was in the Great Kanawha Valley at the Salt or Buffalo 
Lick near Charleston where, under the intelligent and suc¬ 
cessful attempts of the Ruffner Bros. (David and Joseph) to 
bore down through the rocks and ascertain the source of the 
famous salt spring, that modern drilling tools, jars, casing and 
practically all of the oil well machinery in use at the present 
day were invented. These boring operations were begun by 
the Ruffner Bros. (David and Joseph) in 1806, and their efforts 
were crowned with success on the 15th day of January, 1808. 

3 


(U. S. Technical Paper 38, Bureau of Mines, pages 5 to 7, 
answers the next few questions:) 

When did petroleum come into use in the United States? " 

It was mentioned by French missionaries as early as 1835, 
and the early Pennsylvania settlers obtained small quantities 
by scooping the oil from dug wells, using it for medicinal pur¬ 
poses. About 1883 attempts were made to purify it for use as 
lubricating oils and to burn. 

The real beginning of the oil industry may be considered to 
date from the finding of oil by Col. Drake in 1860, when he 
sank a successful well on Oil Creek in Pennsylvania. 

How long has natural gas been used by man? 

Natural gas has been known in foreign countries since 
ancient times. Before and during the time of Julius Caesar 
there was a famous “fontaine ardente,” or burning fountain, 
near Grenoble, France. In China there were gas wells drilled 
2000 feet deep for salt in early centuries. The gas was trans¬ 
ported in bamboo pipes to the place of consumption. In Japan 
gas wells were known as early as 615 A. D. The region of 
eternal fires, in the Apsheron Peninsula, on the shore of the 
Caspian Sea, where inflammable gases issued from rock fis¬ 
sures, was known at least as early, and the fires were wor¬ 
shiped by the Parsees. At an early date the city of Genoa, 
Italy, was lighted by gas brought from wells of Amniamo, in 
Parma. 

Where was natural gas first utilized in the United States? 

The first recorded instance of natural gas utilization in the 
United States was in 1821, at Fredonia, N. Y., where a well 
only 27 feet in depth supplied enough gas for thirty burners 
and the hotel was illuminated from this well on the occasion 
of General LaFayette’s visit in 1824. 

The first use of natural gas for manufacturing purposes is 
believed to have been in 1863 at Liverpool, Ohio. The first 
natural gas pipe line was built in 1876 to supply Titusville, 
Penn., from a well 786 feet deep, and the same year gas was 
brought to Pittsburgh from a field 19 miles distant, in Butler 
County, for use in a rolling mill. During succeeding years 
the Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia fields 

4 


were developed, and these three States still come in the first 
rank of gas-producing States, having produced more gas in 

1910 than in any preceding year. 

When did gas come into use in the Ohio-Indiana Field? 

In the Ohio-Indiana Field, or Trenton Rock Field, natural 
gas was discovered in 1884 at Findlay, Ohio, and the Clinton 
Sand Field of Central Ohio was discovered in 1887 at Lancas¬ 
ter. The Trenton Rock Field has ceased to be an important 
producer, but the fields that obtain their production from the 
Clinton sand have been better managed and are still among 
the greatest producers known. 

In 1911 pipe lines in Ohio were still being built, and the 
Clinton sand production was the largest in the history of the 
field. 

When were other gas fields in the United States discovered ? 

The first paying wells in Kansas were drilled in 1882, but 
important developments did not take place until 1894. At the 
present writing (1912) the supplies of the Kansas fields are 
waning fast. In Oklahoma and Louisiana no important nat¬ 
ural gas developments took place until within the past seven 
years. The development of gas in Texas was coincident with 
the search for oil, the principal discoveries being made from 
1901 to 1903. Natural gas was utilized near Stockton, Cal., 
as early as 1890, but the big producing wells of that State have 
been drilled in connection with the oil developments of the past 
ten years. 

How is natural gas distributed over the United States? 

Natural gas occurs in commercial quantities in 23 States of 
the United States, and the production in the calendar year 

1911 was 508,353,241,000 cubic feet, having a total value of 
$74,127,534.00. 

The estimated total area of the gas fields in this country is 
given as 9,365 square miles. 

CHAPTER II. 

Origin, Distribution and Retention of Petroleum and Gas. 

(origin.) 

Are any of the theories of the origin of petroleum fully 
proven ? 

No. 


5 


What three theories are advanced by scientists to account 
for petroleum in the earth’s crust? 

(1) That petroleum originated from inorganic matter. 

(2) That petroleum originated from organic matter. 

(3) That petroleum, originated from both organic and in¬ 
organic matter. 

What is the theory of Inorganic Origin of Petroleum? 

It is that water percolating downward through fissures in 
the earth’s crust comes in contact, under conditions of high 
temperature and great pressure, with metallic carbides; that a 
chemical reaction takes place, and that the carbohydrates thus 
formed ascend and impregnate the porous beds of sedimentary 
rocks in which they are now found—but no geologic or other 
evidence that these reactions actually take place in the earth’s 
crust has ever been discovered. The conclusion must there¬ 
fore be that while the inorganic theory is attractive it is not 
proven. 

What two groups of Theories of Organic Origin of Petro¬ 
leum are there? 

(1) That petroleum is indigenous to the rocks in which 
it is found. 

(2) That it is the product of natural distillation. 

How do those who believe in the first group explain the 
Organic Origin of Petroleum? 

By asserting (a) That all petroleum was formed in lime¬ 
stone by the decomposition of the animal remains which it 
originally contained, or (b) That petroleum results from the 
primary decomposition of organic matter, and was formed 
when rocks containing it were themselves formed, or (c) That 
the oil, instead of being the product of decomposition of organ¬ 
ic matter, is secreted by living organisms of a low order, such 
as diatoms, and therefore exists as such as an original constitu¬ 
ent of the rock in which it is found. 

How do those who believe in the second group explain the 
Organic Origin of Petroleum? 

That petroleum is derived from the organic matter dissem¬ 
inated through great masses of carbonaceous shales by the 
process of slow natural distillation at relatively low temper¬ 
ature, and that it has subsequently migrated through the strata 
to the reservoirs in-which it is found. 

6 


What proof is advanced to support the belief of the second 
group? 

It is pointed out that these carbonaceous shales yield by arti¬ 
ficial distillation a large quantity of hydrocarbons, both gaseous 
and liquid, which are indistinguishable from those found in 
nature. 

What objection is made to this proof? 

(1) That the “possibility of natural distillation at a tem¬ 
perature sufficiently low to leave the inclosing rocks entirely 
unchanged has not been proved.” 

(2) That the “residues of carbon which would result from 
such distillation have not been found in the rocks.” 

Do those who believe in the Organic Theory of the Origin of 
Petroleum think it has originated from animal or vegetable 
matter ? 

i 

There is a diversity of opinion. Some advancing the idea 
of one, while others just as certainly believe it came from the 
other. 

Peakham believes petroleum may be derived from both ani¬ 
mal and vegetable matter but that the source of the organic 
matter determines the character of the oil, that with a paraffine 
base (e. g., Pennsylvania) being derived from plant remains, 
and that with an asphaltic base (e. g., California or Texas) 
being derived from animal remains. 

What are some of the arguments advanced in favor of the 
Organic Theory? 

(1) Petroleum is a combustible substance and all other 
similar combustibles have originated from organic matter. 

(2) It is possible to produce artificially, from either animal 
or vegetable substances, both gaseous and liquid compounds 
which are closely analogous to those found in petroleum and 
natural gas. For example, lubricating oil, illuminating oil, 
benzine and paraffine have been secured from fish oils by dis¬ 
tillation. 

(3) These substances are practically absent from crystal¬ 
line rocks. 

(4) These substances occur in fossil-bearing rocks. 

(5) In some places these substances occur in close prox¬ 
imity to fossils. 

(6) Natural gas is actually generated in coal seams. 

7 


What is the theory that petroleum originated from both 
organic and inorganic matter? 

It is that petroleum is produced by the action of volcanic or 
solfataric gases containing sulfuric acid and hydrogen sulphide 
upon limestone with the formation of gypsum and free sulphur. 
Or, that the gypsum is the original material and limestone is 
secondary. 

What theory is advanced by the writer to account for the 
origin, distribution and retention of gas and oil? 

I. 

(1) That much or all of the petroleum and natural gas had 
its origin in the great peat swamps where our great coal beds 
originated. 

(2) That when these enormous beds of vegetable matter 
were covered to great depths by strata upon strata of earth 
which subjected them to enormous pressure, that the juices 
of the vegetation were by this great pressure driven off into 
porous beds of earth. 

II. 

That these juices were subjected to great chemical changes 
by decomposition, and otherwise, as they filtered through the 
surrounding earthy materials. 

III. 

That crustal movements of the earth squeezed the oily and 
gaseous materials resulting from the chemically changed juices 
along with great quantities of water from one porous bed to 
another. 

IV. 

(1) That great underground circulation exists. 

(2) That the oil and gas, when not trapped near the coal 
beds, became a part of great underground streams, which, 
though seldom ever finding an outlet to the surface, were kept 
in almost continuous motion by the various internal forces of 
the earth. 

V. 

That some of these streams were confined to rather narrow 
limits, following perhaps the lower part of some old fault or 
fissure whose upper part ages ago had become sealed up, 
while others occupied an extended stratum, or perhaps, at 
times, several strata of great width. 


8 


VI. 

(1) That the roof at the top of the streams and the floor 
below were very uneven, the unevenness sometimes forming 
great pockets of porous materials, walled in by impervious 
strata forming great natural reservoirs. 

(2) That the oil and gas carried by the streams gravitated 
to the top and were trapped and confined in these reservoirs. 

VII. 

That when the gas and oil had accumulated at the top of the 
pocket until they filled it downward to a level of the stream 
which flowed under it, that further additions of the carbo¬ 
hydrates brought there were carried onward with the stream 
until another formation was reached which caused an accumu¬ 
lation at that point or until, as in some instances, it escaped to 
the surface through some opening of the earth’s crust where 
the evaporation of the water and other elements that were 
easily volatilized, left a residuum, known as asphaltum, gra- 
hamite, etc. 

Thus, perhaps, an Allwise Creator has not only provided the 
oil and gas from an otherwise waste material, but He has 
piped it from its origin to reservoirs near the surface within 
the reach of man, yet in small enough quantities that these 
rock-bound reservoirs have stood the tests of ages, though sub¬ 
jected to enormous pressures. 

Thus, perhaps, is the supply being conserved for all future 
time. Billions of barrels of oil and untold billions of cubic 
feet of natural gas may be stored under the oceans and far 
beneath the surface to be emptied some day from their pres¬ 
ent locations by some crustal movement of the earth and piped 
underground to some great natural tank within the reach of 
man. 

The following by N. M. Fenneman from U. S. Geolog. Bulle¬ 
tin 282, pages 114 and 115, explains more fully the theories 
advanced by scientific men to account for the origin of petro¬ 
leum : 

CLASSIFICATION OF THEORIES. 

The origin of petroleum is one of the most obscure prob¬ 
lems by which geologists are confronted. Numerous widely 
different theories have been advanced and advocated by geol- 

9 




ogists and chemists during the last fifty years, but as yet there 
is none which can be regarded as generally accepted and of 
universal applicability. In the present connection any full 
discussion of these theories is manifestly out of place, and 
only a bare outline of the more important ones will be given. 
It should be stated, however, that numerous facts have come to 
light in the development of the Coastal Plain field which have 
a very direct bearing upon theories of the origin of the oil. 
These have in part been given in the preceding pages, but will 
be stated more explicitly in this and the following sections. 

The theories may be divided into three main groups: (1) 
Those which attempt to explain the origin of oil by inorganic 
agencies; (2) those which ascribe it to an organic origin; and 
(3) those which involve both inorganic and organic agencies. 

THEORIES OF INORGANIC ORIGIN. 

In 1866 Berthelot suggested that water containing carbonic 
acid or an earthy carbonate coming in contact with metallic 
sodium or potassium at a high temperature might produce 
both liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons such as are found in 
various oil fields. In 1877 Mendeljeff published his theory, 
which remains the most plausible of all the inorganic theories 
thus far proposed. Stated briefly, it is that water percolating 
downward through fissures in the earth’s crust comes in con¬ 
tact, under conditions of high temperature and great pressure, 
with metallic carbides; that a chemical reaction takes place, 
with the formation of metallic oxides and saturated hydro¬ 
carbons, and that the latter ascend and impregnate the porous 
beds of sedimentary rocks in which they are now found. 

Various modifications of the theories of Berthelot and Men¬ 
deljeff have been suggested by other chemists, but these con¬ 
tain the essentials of all the purely inorganic theories which 
merit consideration. 

The fact is unquestioned that hydrocarbons similar to or 
identical with some of the constituents of natural petroleum 
may be produced in the laboratory by the action of inorganic 
substances, but no geologic or other evidence that these reac¬ 
tions actually take place in the earth’s crust has been discov¬ 
ered. The conclusion must therefore be that while the inor¬ 
ganic theory is attractive it is not proved. 

10 


THEORIES OF ORGANIC ORIGIN. 

These theories may be again divided into two groups: (a) 
That petroleum is indigenous to the rocks in which it is found, 
and (b) that it is the product of natural distillation. 

The first of these theories was advocated by Sterry Hunt, 
who asserted that all petroleum was formed in limestone by 
the decomposition of the animal remains which it originally 
contained. It was also advocated by Lesley and Whitney. 

The theory was further amplified by Orton, who extended 
it to the petroleum found in the shale and sandstone in the 
Appalachian field as well as that found in limestone. Accord¬ 
ing to Orton, petroleum results from the primary decomposi¬ 
tion of organic matter, and was formed when the rocks con¬ 
taining it were themselves formed. 

A modification of this theory has recently been advanced— 
namely, that the oil, instead of being the product of decompo¬ 
sition of organic matter, is secreted by living organisms of 
low order, such as diatoms, and therefore exists as such as an 
original constituent of the rock in which it is found. The pres¬ 
ence of oil associated with diatoms in the mud at Sabine Pass 
is regarded by Doctor Phillips as furnishing some degree of 
support to this theory. 

The majority of geologists have held to the second theory— 
namely, that petroleum is derived from the organic matter 
disseminated through great masses of carbonaceous shales by 
the process of slow natural distillation at relatively low tem¬ 
peratures, and that it has subsequently migrated through the 
strata to the reservoirs in which it is found. In proof it is 
pointed out that these carbonaceous shales yield by artificial 
distillation a large quantity of hydrocarbons, both gaseous and 
liquid, which are indistinguishable from those found in nature; 
but the possibility of natural distillation at a temperature suffi¬ 
ciently low to leave the inclosing rocks entirely unchanged has 
not been proved, nor have the residues of carbon which would 
result from such distillation been found in the rocks. 

Again, there is much diversity of opinion among those who 
hold to the organic origin of petroleum as to whether its source 
is in animal or vegetable remains. Peckham believes that 
petroleum may be derived from both animal and vegetable 
matter, but that the source of the organic matter determines 

11 


the character of the oil, that with a paraffine base (e. g., Penn¬ 
sylvania) being derived from plant remains, and that with an 
asphalt base (e. g., California) being derived from animal 
remains. 

THEORIES OF COMBINED ORGANIC AND INORGANIC ORIGIN. 

Among the theories which fall in the third group may be 
mentioned that proposed by 0. C. D. Ross in 1891. It is that 
petroleum is produced by the action of volcanic or solfataric 
gases containing sulphurous acid and hydrogen sulphide upon 
limestone, with the formation of gypsum and free sulphur. The 
reactions given undoubtedly take place in the laboratory, and 
they may also take place in certain localities in nature. On 
the other hand, Hopkins proposed a theory, which has been 
elaborated and modified somewhat by other chemists, accord¬ 
ing to which the gypsum is the original material and the lime¬ 
stone is secondary. The essential features of this theory are 
that gypsum, calcium sulphate, in the presence of decomposing 
organic matter which gives off carbonic acid, is reduced, with 
the formation of limestone, calcium carbonate, free sulphur, 
and hydrocarbons. This reaction has not been exactly repro¬ 
duced in the laboratory, but neither can the conditions which 
must prevail at great depths in the earth be exactly reproduced. 

It will be observed that the theories of this group are inter¬ 
mediate between those of the first two classes. The original 
materials are in part organic (limestone and vegetable or ani¬ 
mal matter) and in part inorganic (volcanic gases and gyp¬ 
sum). 

CONCLUSION. 

This great diversity of views regarding the origin of petro¬ 
leum is equaled by the diversity in character of the petroleum 
itself and in the geologic conditions under which it is found. 
In fact, it is probable that the final theory will include most of 
those outlined above, and will recognize the fact that this sub¬ 
stance which is so widely distributed in nature may be the 
product of widely different processes acting upon a great 
diversity of materials. Thus the hydrocarbons which have 
been observed in certain volcanic rocks and in gases given off 
from volcanic vents may be entirely inorganic, resulting from 
the reaction between water and heated metallic carbides. The 

12 


oil of the Appalachian field may be derived from the slow dis¬ 
tillation of plant remains disseminated through the underlying 
shales, and that of the Trenton limestone of the Lima field 
from animal remains originally contained in the rocks in which 
it is now found. (Finally, the oil of the Gulf Coastal Plain 
may be derived, in part at least, from the action of decompos¬ 
ing organic matter, both animal and vegetable, but chiefly the 
latter, upon gypsum or limestone, either as sediments or borne 
in solution in the sea water which originally permeated the 
sediments .)” 

CHAPTER III. 

The Origin, Distribution and Retention of Petroleum 

and Gas—C ontinued. 

(THE WRITER’S THEORY MORE FULLY EXPLAINED.) 

The writer believes that no theory is worthy of consider¬ 
ation unless good reasons are given for its existence. In this 
chapter he has separately taken each statement made by him 
in Chapter Two and has given some of the reasons for his 
belief in each. 

STATEMENT NO. 1. 

“That much or all of the petroleum and natural gas had its 
origin in the great peat swamps where our great coal beds 
originated. That when these enormous beds of vegetable mat¬ 
ter were covered to great depths by strata upon strata of earth 
which subjected them to enormous' pressure, that the juices 
of the vegetation were by this great pressure driven off into 
porous beds of earth.” 

GEOLOGISTS IN THE MAIN AGREE— 

1st. That coal has been accumulated by the growth of vege¬ 
tation as in peat swamps of the present day. 

2nd. That it was probably accumulated in broad slowly 
sinking lowland areas subject to floods by river and overflows 
by sea that piled sand, clay and limestone in stratified layers 
above it, sealing it up, and subjecting it to enormous pressure. 

3rd. That enormous quantities of vegetable matter was 
required to make the billions of tons formed. That it required 
8 or 10 feet of peat bed to make one foot of anthracite coal. 

IT IS ESTIMATED— 

1. That the coal fields of the continents cover about one 

13 


half million of square miles. The Appalachian field alone covers 
60,000 square miles. The Central Coal Field in Illinois, Indiana 
and Kentucky covers about 47,000 square miles. The Western 
Coal Field in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma 
covers about 78,000 square miles. 

2. That in some fields there are as many as 100 seams 
of the coal. 

3. That the aggregate thickness of all the seams totals in 
the Pottsville, Penn., field 113 feet and in some foreign fields 
as high as 250 feet. If it took 8 feet of peat swamp to make 
one foot of this coal it means that in some fields 1000 to 2000 
feet of vegetable matter was buried and sealed in. 

This enormous accumulation of vegetable matter was sub¬ 
jected to enormous pressure as it is estimated by some geol¬ 
ogists that at one time 40,000 feet of sediment covered the 
Appalachian fields and that others were pressed down by thou¬ 
sands of feet of earth that must have squeezed the vegetation 
dry of its juices. 

CHEMISTS HAVE FOUND— 

1. That the coal itself by suitable distillation may be 
broken up into a great variety of products known as coal pitch, 
which is solid; coal tar, of a tarry consistency; coal oil, which 
is a liquid; coal naphtha, which is volatile, and coal gas, which 
is gaseous. 

2. That from petroleum can be made asphalt, a solid; 
bitumen, a tarry product; kerosene, gasoline and other liquids; 
methane and other gases. Most geologists concede their vege¬ 
table origin. Grahamite, a residuum of oil very much resem¬ 
bling coal, exists in great quantities in Richie County, W. Va. 
Previous to 1870 it was mined in large quantities and shipped 
East for the manufacture of gas. State Geologist I. C. White, 
of West Virginia, says: “Several examples are known in West 
Virginia and Pennsylvania where valuable flows of gas have 
been obtained from coal beds.” 

If the reader will give these statements from geologists of 
note careful study, the writer believes it will prove to his 
mind— 

1st. That the great amounts of petroleum, bitumen and 
asphaltum probably in existence would not be in excess of that 


14 


which might consistently be accounted for in origin to so enor¬ 
mous deposits of coal. 

2nd. That such great pressure as that to which this vege¬ 
table matter was subjected after it was sealed in by imper¬ 
vious strata would necessarily drive the liquid portions along 
with the water into the adjoining porous parts of the earth’s 
crust. 

3rd. That there is such a similarity of the coal products 
and the petroleum products that they probably had the same 
origin. 

STATEMENT NO. 2. 

“That these vegetable juices were subjected to great chem¬ 
ical changes by decomposition and otherwise, as they filtered 
through the surrounding earthy material.” 

GEOLOGISTS GENERALLY CONCEDE— 

1. That iron ore has been accumulated through the agen¬ 
cy of decayed organic matter. 

2. That when decomposing vegetable matter passed 
through a stratum containing iron that it chemically affected 
the iron so that it became dissolved and was leached out and 
by subsequent chemical changes was deposited in some porous 
stratum as iron ore in some form. 

3. That since most of the iron ore is deposited adjacent 
to the coal that this decomposing vegetable matter generally 
came from the coal fields, and that great portions of this 
decomposing vegetable matter was used up in such chemical 
action on the iron since it cannot now be accounted for. 

The writer thinks, that since in nature nothing is really lost 
but matter merely changes from one form to another, it does 
not seem improbable that these vegetable juices were not con¬ 
sumed in chemcial action but while changing the forms of 
other elements to fit them for man’s use that they were them¬ 
selves changed so they now occupy an important place in 
nature’s economy, as oil, gas, etc. He thinks it possible that 
the nature of the chemical change wrought upon the decom¬ 
posing juices may have determined whether the resulting oil 
was left with a paraffine or asphaltum base. Such difference 
in the nature of the two kinds of oil being brought about more 
by the kind or quantity of chemical encountered as it was 

15 


forced through earthy materials than was due to the mechan¬ 
ical process of filtration, as some have suggested. He thinks 
since an Allwise Creator has seen fit to form the iron and coal 
in such close relationship that the smelting furnaces that 
receive the mined ore are located at the mouths of the coal 
mines, that He may have also seen fit to distribute these forms 
of nature’s firewood to places remote from the mines to serve 
man in other sections with light and heat. 

STATEMENT NO. 3. 

“That crustal movements of the earth squeezed the oily and 
gaseous materials resulting from the chemically changed juices 
along with great quantities of water from one porous bed to 
another.” 

1. Geology teaches that in the interior of the earth there 
are forces that tend to elevate or depress or crush together 
laterally the earth’s crust, probably the greatest force being 
that caused by the shrinkage of the earth’s interior. 

2. That in this way mountain ranges have been formed, 
continents elevated and great basins made for the waters of 
the sea. As late as 1835 an earthquake covering 600,000 
square miles in Southern South America elevated the whole 
coast line of Chili and Patagonia from 2 to 10 feet. In 1819 
a severe earthquake in the neighborhood of the mouth of the 
Indus River, in India, caused a tract of land of about 2000 ^ 
square miles to sink, making a great salt lagoon, while at the 
same time another area 50 miles long and 10 to 16 miles wide 
was elevated about 10 feet. There are many other instances 
recorded where enormous changes have taken place in a short 
time, yet geologists of today do not attribute most of the modi¬ 
fication of the earth’s crust to such paroxysmal occurrences, 
but believe that most of this great work was done so slowly 
that only the eye of science would detect the change. 

In the period of time from 1843 to 18^2 records show a year¬ 
ly average of 575 earthquakes, most of them being local tremors 
not recognized except by the use of delicately constructed 
instruments. 

Since we find enormous deposits of oil and gas adjacent to 
great coal beds, or as in the case of that in the Appalachian 
section, bordering them for hundreds of miles, and, when we 
consider the forces which have heaved up great chains of 

. 16 


mountains and even the continents themselves, and what enor¬ 
mous pressures must be exerted upon the liquids of the earth’s 
deep interior, it seems reasonable that the oil and gas found in 
great quantities bordering the great coal fields might have 
originated in them and have been forced to their present reser¬ 
voirs through the intervening earthy materials. 

STATEMENT NO. 4. 

“That great underground circulation exists and that this oil 
and gas, when not trapped near the coal beds, became in some 
instances a part of great underground streams, which, though 
seldom ever finding an outlet to the surface, were kept in 
almost continuous motion by the various internal forces of the 
earth.” 

It is a fact known to all that the water circulates 
through porous places in the earth’s crust, making possible our 
springs and wells. 

Sometimes as a tiny stream it find its way through some 
small opening in the rock. Sometimes it seeps forth from a 
stratum of sand in the bed of a creek. Sometimes it gushes 
forth as an artesian well, where man has penetrated a lower 
water stratum where an underground river which has its 
source high up in the mountains is flowing under hydrostatic 
pressure. That great streams of water find their way to the 
sea is certain. In one place in the Mediterranean Sea a body 
of fresh water 50 feet in diameter rises with such force as to 
cause a visible convexity of the sea-surface. In Kentucky and 
Florida, of our own country, great streams sometimes flow as 
enormous springs from underground cavities or lose them¬ 
selves in openings in the earth’s crust, perhaps not to emerge 
again before reaching the waters of the ocean. 

Geologists tell us there is also deep subterranean water which 
some have named volcanic water, that fills all the deep-seated 
fissures and porous strata of great depths and that it is seldom 
brought to the surface but by volcanic agencies. 

That probably greater quantities of water now exist in the 
earth’s interior than make up the oceans and seas on the 
surface. 

Some who believe in the planetesimal theory of the forma¬ 
tion of the earth go so far as to claim that all the water now 
on the surface of the earth has come from its interior and that 

17 


this may be one of the causes of its great internal shrinkage. 

Since it is true that great internal forces cause almost con¬ 
tinuous movements of the earth’s solid interior, and since 
water or other liquids fill all the fissures and porous places of 
that interior, and since the Creator has wisely provided for 
circulation in the atmosphere above, in the waters of the sea, 
and in that part of the earth’s crust near the surface, it seems 
possible and probable to the writer that there exists also a 
continuous circulation of the volcanic water of the earth as it 
is driven from one location to another by these infernal forces; 
and that, since petroleum and its attendant gases like water 
collect in underground cavities, porous strata and porous fis¬ 
sures, and, like water, may be transmitted through such porous 
materials by the powers of gravitation, capillarity or by hydro¬ 
static or other pressure, that it is not impossible that petro¬ 
leum and its gases have been carried with this water by these 
circulating agencies from place to place for long distances, 
perhaps by very circuitous routes usually at great depths, but 
often approaching very close to the surface and sometimes 
finding their way through some porous place to the surface 
itself. 

STATEMENT NO. 5. 

“That some of these streams were confined to rather narrow 
limits, following, perhaps, the lower part of some old fault or 
fissure whose upper part ages ago had become sealed up, and 
that others occupied an extended stratum or perhaps at times 
several strata of great width.” 

Since the writer believes that the oil and gas did not orig¬ 
inate in the reservoirs where they are found, but have been 
deposited there through the ages that are past by streams, and 
since in such fields as Spindle Top the reservoir is limited to a 
very small area with sometimes no other showing of oil for 
miles around, he believes that such deposits must have been 
made by streams that followed old faults or fissures of the 
earth’s crust, perhaps occupying a porous bed of no great width 
but of considerable depth. 

The same force that formed the fault, leaving a porous chan¬ 
nel, may have also made the reservoir by some more extensive 
upheaval at that point. Or some deposit that originally occu¬ 
pied the p ] ace of the reservoir may have in the ages past been 

18 


dissolved and carried away, its place being taken by the other 
deposits left by the same stream. 

The oil and gas occupying sand beds further from the chan¬ 
nel and main reservoir being that which found its way there 
through weak places in the otherwise impervious strata which 
formed the walls of the channel and reservoir. 



FIGURE 2. Illustrating a transverse section of an anticline, with resevoir 
of porous materials filled with gas and oil above, and a stream of salt water 
occupying the lower part. Above the main resevoir are shown three lenses 
of oil sand. These lenses have been filled from the main resevoir through 
weak or faulty places in the otherwise impervious surrounding strata. The 
reservoirs are exagerated in size to better illustrate the theory of the trans¬ 
portation and accumulation of oil and gas by underground streams. 

As the gas and oil accumulated the enormous pressure would 
cause the gas and sometimes the oil to filter or leak through 
and occupy porous reservoirs higher up. In places it would 
find its way to the surface, being noticeable where it escaped 
in wells, springs, creeks and other places where there was 
water. This gas, having filtered through great depths of earth, 
would be freed from its poisonous qualities, being almost pure 
methane. 

The writer believes that the oil and gas in what is known as 
Regular Stratum Fields do not occupy the stratum because they 
had their origin there, but because the formation of the stra¬ 
tum was suitable for their reception and retention. That they, 
also, are now or have been a part of a great circulation entire¬ 
ly separate from the “near-surface” circulation as known to 
man. 


19 




















If entirely without motion now it may be from some change 
of internal pressure which removed the force that once pushed 
them along, or else they also were trapped, but in a different 
reservoir and one of greater area than those known as the 
Saline Mound Fields. 

Because the oil and gas are often found in the formations 
of a certain age or period does not conclusively prove that they 
had their origin in such formation. They may be found there 
because such formations were more porous and because of their 
situation immediately beneath some impervious stratum which 
prevented the carbohydrates from escaping. 



FIGURE 3. Illustrating longitudinal section of same formation as Figure 2, 
showing underground streams of salt water with extensive areas of porous 
materials above, in which oil and gas have accumulated from the top down¬ 
ward till further additions can.no longer be trapped but flow onward with 
the water till some unfilled reservoir is found. The reservoirs are exagerated 
in size to better illustrate the theory of the transportation and accumulation 
of oil by underground streams. 


Imagine a prehistoric underground stream of great size 
slowly moving through a deep underground porous channel 
caused by the earth being buckled up at that line by lateral 
pressure such as probably formed the mountain chains of our 
land. At the very top of the stream, always pressed against 
the impervious strata above, the gas, with the oil beneath. 
Under the oil, the lighter portions of the water with that 
charged with heavy mineral matter at the lowest depths, and 
you have a crude picture of the “stream of rather narrow 
limits,” as the writer imagines it. 

20 

















At last the stream flows under portions of the coast country 
where the nature of the strata above permits the gas to be 
forced up through weak places carrying with it water and 
mud, which form cone-shaped mud volcanoes at the surface. 

Finally the gas vents become choked and sealed up, even as 
oil wells do these latter days. The rains wash the lighter por¬ 
tions of the mud volcanoes away and beat the remaining por¬ 
tions down and in a few ages you have the gas mounds of the 
coast country formed, as the writer imagines it. 

Above this stream deep down in the bowels of the earth, 
locate, if you can, occasional reservoirs of porous materials, 
ranging in size from a dozen to millions of cubic feet. Imagine 
one of these great porous areas, at first occupied largely by 
water, but filling with gas and oil slowly from the top down¬ 
ward as these materials are carried there by the stream, gravi¬ 
tate to the top of the reservoir and become securely trapped, 
until finally, after ages of time, they occupy all the space of 
the reservoir down to the level of the stream so that the stream 
carries as much away as it brings to the reservoir. 

Now, if your imagination can perform the task, please 
follow one of these prehistoric underground streams whose 
waters have constituted one of the deep-seated arteries of 
Mother Earth’s circulation, past many a well-filled reservoir, 
yet hidden from the ken of man; down many a steep incline, 
sometimes to enormous depths; up almost vertical channels, 
approaching so near the surface that its more volatile parts 
escape for a time through some new-made fissure; by some 
alchemy known only to its creator, eating away some huge 
deposit of mineral and depositing in its stead another which it 
has carried in solution for ages; now for a time accelerated 
by some new internal pressure, then remaining almost stag¬ 
nant for an age; often encountering a choked channel, as often 
opening a new one; sometimes under the land, sometimes under 
the sea; hidden so it knows no night, no day, no sun, no storm; 
silently but surely obeying the immutable laws of its Creator, 
slowly but precisely working its changes for One in whose 
sight “a thousand years are but as yesterday.” 

Finally, having deposited its load of oil and gas into a giant 
underground reservoir whose walls no longer retain the thou¬ 
sands of tons of pressure, with a mighty roar the rock-ribbed 

21 


bands that for ages had confined it to the dark interior of 
earth, burst open, and the stream flows forth into a great 
basin in the island of Trinidad, where the water and other 
volatile parts of the stream evaporate, leaving a great lake of 
asphaltum to be a mute witness to its prehistoric existence, 
and its final deposit of oil brought from a distant coal bed. 

If you can get the picture that the writer has tried to draw, 
reading much between the lines that space forbids that he 
write, you have an idea of what he tried to express in State¬ 
ments 5, 6 and 7, of Chapter Two. 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Accumulation of Petroleum and Gas. 

(HOW COLLECTED INTO POOLS.) 

(Answers compiled from U. S. Geolog. Bulletin.) 

Does the oil exist in the earth’s crust in great quantities? 

It may exist in small quantities, or in great quantities, called 
pools. 

Are the so-called pools really great pools as we usually use 
the term? 

No. They are great reservoirs or natural tanks made of 
porous rock, or other material. 

What percent of their bulk will these pools hold of oil? 

It is not known, but those who have made it a study believe 
if made of granite, or other compact rock, they would hold less 
than 1 per cent, while if made of cavernous limestone or coarse 
gravel, they might hold 25 per cent or more. 

Where the oil exists in great quantities, was it originated 
there or did it gather there from a great area? 

Whatever its origin it is generally believed by scientists to 
have originated in small quantities and to have been gathered 
into the pools by different agencies. 

What are some of the agencies that may have helped gather 
the oil into pools? 

(1) A porous reservoir to accumulate the oil. 

(2) An impervious material surrounding the reservoir so 
that when in it the oil is trapped and held secure. 

(3) Great pressure. 

(4) Water. 

(5) An inclined strata. 


22 


(6) Different temperature in the earth’s crust. 

Are all the porous reservoirs apt to contain oil ? 

No. Only a few may have enough oil near them to make a 
large pool. Still a fewer number are in a position such that 
the oil is gathered to them. Still a fewer number that are 
so surrounded by materials that will not let the oil escape but 
hold it in a trap. 

Does the character of the material which holds the oil in a 
pool such as rock or sand determine the character of the oil? 

No. Oil with either an asphaltum base or paraffine base 
may be found in limestone, dolomite, sandstone, gravel or 
other porous materials. 

Does the character of the material affect the oil’s behavior 
when the pool is tapped by an oil well ? 

Yes. When the rock is a firm fine grained sandstone it yields 
its oil slowly and the yield continues a long time, even though 
there is great gas pressure. 

A cavernous dolomite gives up its oil easily and the flow is 
rapid and usually short lived. 

An unconsolidated sand flows with the oil to the well and 
may quickly choke it unless kept back with a screening device 
of some kind. 

Is the impervious material that traps the oil found above or 
below the pool ? 

If the strata that carries the oil has no water (as is some¬ 
times found in Pennsylvania), and the oil is carried by gravity 
to the sag in the strata of rock, then the impervious strata to 
check the oil would be found underlying the pool. Otherwise 
it would be found on all sides and on the top of the pool to 
check the oil as it was forced upward by pressure from the 
water below. 

What materials form an impervious barrier to hold the oil? 

Fine clay, clay shale, or muddy limestone. 

How could the oil be carried to such a pool? 

From below by capillary or siphonal forces, or by ascending 
currents of water. 

How could water gather oil from the strata of earth it 
originated in and carry it to a reservoir? 

If found in porous strata that contained much water, the 
oil, of whatever nature, tends to rise toward the earth’s sur- 

23 


face, or till it reaches a stratum that will not let it rise further. 

It would thus be collected just under this impervious stra¬ 
tum. If this stratum is inclined the oil would find its way up 
the incline till it reached a place where the stratum was buckled 
or dipped downward. Here it would be trapped and accumu¬ 
lated at the highest line under the impervious stratum, forming 
a pool of oil, with gas at the highest points and water below. 
(See Fig. 11, page 28.) 

What is an anticline? 

An anticline is the line or axis from which strata dip in 
opposite directions. (See Fig. C, page 2, and Fig. 2, page 19.) 

What is the anticlinal theory of the formation of oil pools? 

It is the theory that oil is carried upward by water under 
pressure from below till it reaches an inclined stratum which 
is partly or entirely impervious to it and which stops its prog¬ 
ress, and that the same forces from below carry it up the 
inclined stratum till it reaches a line where the strata dip 
down, where the oil remains, being securely trapped. 

, Are there Surface indications which show where the anti¬ 
clines are located? 

Yes. In some localities where there are outcrops of rock 
sufficient, the geologist can tell to a certainty. 

Is oil always found on an anticline?' 

Not always. But it, along with other surface signs, aids the 
geologist to a great extent in locating oil pools. 

What other things might indicate the presence of the axis 
or high line of an anticline, besides an outcrop of rock or 
underlying strata? 

Deep wells bored at intervals which would indicate to the 
geologist the dip in the incline by bringing to the surface evi¬ 
dence of the depth of the different strata. 

If quantities of gas could be collected in the vicinity of long- 
natural ridges, it would indicate perhaps that the ridge or 
upheaval was caused by the same force from below that had 
caused the upward bend of lower strata which had confined 
and was holding a reservoir of gas below. 

-■-■c aeuEgK a agrfEara nta 

CONDITIONS FOR ACCUMULATION. 

(U. S. Geol. Survey Bulletin 282, pages 115 to 120.) 

Hydrocarbons of the petroleum type are among the most 
widely distributed substances in nature. They are found asso¬ 
ciated with almost all classes of rocks, both crystalline and 

24 




sedimentary, from the oldest to the youngest. While these 
hydrocarbons are very widely distributed they are, however, 
usually in small quantities, and accumulations sufficiently 
large to be of commercial importance are restricted by certain 
well-defined conditions to a relatively small portion of the 
earth's surface. In many regions it is comparatively easy for 
the geologist, by an examination of surface conditions, to state 
definitely and with certainty that no oil in commercial quanti¬ 
ties will be found. In other large regions he can state that oil 
may be found, and can point out in some cases the most favor¬ 
able localities, but he can not predict the actual occurrence of 
an oil pool in advance of drilling. 

The essential conditions for the accumulation of oil are (1) 
a sufficient supply of oil derived from any of the sources above 
described; (2) a porous reservoir rock in which it may be 
stored, and (3) an impervious cap rock which will prevent its 
escape. Conditions which favor its accumulation but are not 
always essential are (4) gentle undulations of the strata form¬ 
ing anticlinal arches or domes, (5) the complete saturation of 
the rocks with water and its slow circulation under hydrostatic 
head or convection due to differences of temperature. 

THE OIL SUPPLY. 

This is of course the first and most essential condition, for 
without it no accumulation could take place however favorable 
other conditions might be. Of all the conditions enumerated 
above this is probably the one which prevails over the largest 
areas. Wherever there are heavy deposits of sedimentary 
rocks some of the beds generally contain organic material, 
either animal or vegetable, from which an abundant supply of 
hydrocarbons might be derived, and doubtless in a large pro¬ 
portion of cases at some time in the history of such beds condi¬ 
tions have been favorable for its conversion into petroleum. 
This is notably true of the many thousand feet of strata consti¬ 
tuting the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations on the Gulf 
Coastal Plain. 

THE RESERVOIR ROCK. 

All granular rocks which enter into the composition of the 
earth’s crust are to some extent permeable to liquids. This 
porosity, the vacant space between the rock particles, varies 

25 


from less than one-half of 1 per cent in rocks like granite to 
8 or 10 per cent in ordinary compact, fine-grained sandstones, 
and 25 per cent or even more in coarse gravel or cavernous 
limestone and dolomite. The porosity of a rock depends upon 
the shape of the grains, their uniformity in size, and the 
amount of cementing material. It is wholly independent of the 
size of the grains. Hence a fine-grained sand may have as 
great capacity for holding oil as a coarse gravel. The term 
“oil pool” is in common use in most oil fields and is a convenient 
one, but is liable to lead to misapprehension. An oil pool is 
simply a restricted portion of any porous bed which is satur¬ 
ated with oil. It is limited both vertically and horizontally by 
some impervious barrier which prevents the escape of the oil. 
It does not generally contain any large fissures or caverns, the 
oil being contained in the minute spaces between the constitu¬ 
ent grains of the bed. In exceptional cases, such as the Spindle 
Top pool, where the reservoir rock is a limestone or dolomite, 
there are cavities of appreciable size, probably to be measured 
in inches and possibly in feet, in which the oil is stored, as 
well as in the minute spaces between the constituent grains of 
the rock. 

(There is no difference between an “oil sand” and a “water 
sand” except that the pores of the former contain oil, while 
those of the latter are filled with water. The popular belief, 
therefore, that an expert can tell by examining a sample of 
sand whether the formation “ought to contain oil,” has no 
foundation.) 

The character of the reservoir rock does not determine the 
character of the oil, but does determine its behavior when the 
pool is tapped by the drill. When the rock is a firm, fine¬ 
grained sandstone, it yields its oil slowly, even when under 
great pressure, and the yield continues for a long time, steadily 
deci easing, however, as the supply is drawn from increasing 
distances. A ca^ ernous dolomite, on the other hand, offers 
little resistance to the passage of the oil toward the well, and 
the flow from such a rock is consequently rapid and short¬ 
lived. When the oil is held in an unconsolidated sand the latter 
flows toward the exit along with the oil and quickly chokes the 
well unless held back by some straining device. 

THE IMPERVIOUS COVER. 

Since petroleum has a lower specific gravity than water, it 
always tends to rise when the two liquids are associated in 

26 


the rocks, and if not stopped by some impervious barrier would 
continue until it reached the surface and then be dissipated. 
An essential condition of any large accumulation is therefore 
an impervious stratum which shall check this upward course 
of the oil and restrain it in a porous reservoir rock below. 
Such impervious strata usually consist of fine clay, clay shale, 
or muddy limestone. If the bed is perfectly continuous, a few 
feet in thickness of clay or clay shale is sufficient to prevent 
any leakage from the underlying porous beds even under great 
pressure. In the Spindle Top pool the cover is formed by a 
considerable thickness of alternating clay beds and limestones. 
* * * (The so-called “cap-rock” is a dense crust of the porous, 
oil-bearing limestone. The term is often loosely used with 
reference to the entire body of the limestone.) 

ANTICLINAL STRUCTURE. 

When oil, whatever its origin, occurs in a porous bed along 
with water, it tends to rise toward the surface and continues 
to rise until it reaches the surface or meets some obstruction. 
If the obstruction is a perfectly horizontal stratum of imper¬ 
vious material, the progress of the oil is checked, but it does 
not accumulate in large bodies. If, on the other hand, the 
impervious stratum is inclined, the oil continues to move 
upward along its under side until it meets a downward bend 
in the bed which it can not pass. The oil is thus trapped in 
the fold or anticline, and if the impervious bed is continuous 
over the crest it continues to accumulate and an oil pool is 
formed. The Appalachian field is characterized by low folds, 
which have a general northeast-southwest trend, parallel with 
the large folds of the Appalachian Mountains, and these folds 
have been of the highest importance in the accumulation of oil 
in that field. In the Gulf Coast Plain no structures are found 
which at all resemble the anticlines of the Appalacnian field. 
The latter are undoubtedly due to horizontal compression of 
the earth’s crust, but the Coastal Plain does not appear ever 
to have been subjected to such compression, and consequently 
the long, regular parallel folds are wanting. The circular or 
elliptical domes which have been described as occurring at 
Spindle Top, Damon Mound, and elsewhere are structures of 
a wholly different class, and could scarcely have been produced 
by horizontal compression. Although these domes are not 

27 


strictly comparable with the anticlines of the Appalachian 
field, they are equally efficient in furnishing the structural 
conditions favorable for the accumulation of oil. 

SATURATION OF THE ROCKS AND CIRCULATION OF THE 

SATURATING FLUID. 

Sedimentary rocks below the immediate surface are gener¬ 
ally saturated with water, either fresh or saline. In some 
cases, particularly in the Appalachian field, the rocks are dry, 
and under these conditions, even when sufficiently porous, they 
are not readily traversed by oil. This condition, however, is 
probably very rarely present in the thoroughly saturated beds 
underlying the Coastal Plain. 

General Relations of Gas, Oil and Water. 

In most oil fields both gas and salt water are found. Many 
wells yield all three, either at the same time or in succession. 
A knowledge of their mutual relations is important, not only 
in the proper management of a single well, but in the exploita¬ 
tion of a field as a whole. Where any two of these fluids are 
found in the same reservoir, the heavier is found below and 
the lighter above. Where all are present and free to arrange 
themselves according to their several specific gravities, the gas 
will be found above the oil and the salt water below. These 
conditions are shown in the accompanying sketch (fig. —). 
The well A taps the top of the reservoir and yields only gas; 
the well B, on the side of the reservoir, penetrates only oil¬ 
bearing rock and the oil is forced upward by the downward 
pressure of the overlying gas; the well C penetrates the reser¬ 
voir rock below the lower limit of the oil, and hence yields only 
water, which may or may not flow at the surface. 



FIGURE 11. (U. S. Geol. Sur. Bui. No. 282) Theoretical relation of gas, oil 
and water m the reservoir rock. 


28 














































These simple theoretical conditions imply that all oil, gas, 
and water are contained in a single reservoir whose roof con¬ 
tains no subordinate arches or domes. Under these circum¬ 
stances a light fluid borne up by a heavier will be gathered 
into a single body at the top of the reservoir. In actual occur¬ 
rence such simple cases are exceptional and the distribution of 
the three fluids is sometimes complicated, yet the principle is 
very important. Wells frequently yield gas at first and oil 
later, on account of the pressing up of light fluids by the heav¬ 
ier. The appearance of salt water in a well after the exhaus¬ 
tion of the oil is a common occurrence. 

NATURAL FLOW. 

When oil is struck, it usually rises in the well. It may even 
overflow or be expelled with great violence. Two theories 
have been employed in explaining the pressures necessary to 
these phenomena, the gas-expansion theory and the hydro¬ 
static theory. 

The gas-expansion theory assumes, as the one essential 
condition, that the gas and the oil are confined under pressure 
in the same reservoir. It matters little whether the gas be 
above the oil or absorbed by the oil on account of the pressure. 
In either case the expansive pressure of the gas may expel the 
oil when the latter is tapped by a well. 

According to the hydrostatic theory, the gas, oil, and water 
are arranged in the subterranean reservoir in the order of their 
specific gravities, the gas being on top and the water at the 
bottom. The water is assumed to saturate the porous stratum 
continuously from beneath the oil reservoir to the outcrop and 
to transmit the pressure, due to the greater elevation of the 
outcrop, to the overlying oil. A close correspondence was 
found by Orton between the closed pressure of wells in the 
Trenton field of Ohio and Indiana and the weight of a column 
of water equal to the difference in elevation between the well 
head and the Trenton outcrop. Even in this region, however, 
which is the one commonly cited in support of this theory, 
there are certain cases of exceptionally high and low pressures 
which it does not explain. It also fails to explain the extreme 
range in pressure observed in the Texas-Louisiana field in 
different parts of the same pool, and, further, it is inconsistent 
with the behavior of the wells when flowing. 

29 


The accumulation of oil in the Coastal Plain sediments is, 
in several respects, in strong contrast with the corresponding 
process in parts of the Appalachian field. In the latter case 
the reservoir rock, the cap rock, and the formation from which 
the substance of the oils is believed to be derived are all con¬ 
tinuous, without important change of character, over thou¬ 
sands of square miles. The relation of each to the oil is so 
definite that if, at any place, the age and folds of the under¬ 
lying rocks be ascertained, the conditions with respect to oil 
are to a considerable degree known. On the Coastal Plain not 
only are dips and folds difficult to determine, but the age of a 
bed gives no clue to its physical character or its relation to 
oils, if present. Stratigraphy is therefore relatively less impor¬ 
tant in the study and exploitation of oil in the Coastal Plain 
lieids than in neids of the Appalachian type. 

SOURCE OF THE HYDROCARBONS. 

Most of the sediments of the Coastal Plain contain small 
quantities of petroleum. The amount thus disseminated is 
extremely large, perhaps larger than that which has accumu¬ 
lated into bodies of commercial importance. The distribution 
is so general that it would be impossible to name any one for¬ 
mation, or any series, as the probable source of the original 
hydrocarbons. The distribution of oil in very small quantities 
through hundreds or even thousands of feet of sediment, much 
of which is highly impervious clay, might be supposed to give 
plausibility to the assumption of its origin within the beds 
where it is now found. On the other hand, the enormous quan¬ 
tities found in certain small pools are inexplicable on any such 
hypothesis. 

MOVEMENTS. 

The collection of hydrocarbons into reservoirs of oil is 
related to the presence of water in at least two ways: (1) 
The oil is buoyed up by the ground water; (2) the oil must 
share to some extent in the movements of the water until the 
former comes to rest under an impervious arch or dome. These 
statements apply to oil as a liquid lighter than water, but the 
nature and condition of the hydrocarbons previous to their 
accumulation as oil are unknown. 

EFFECTS OF IRREGULAR BEDS. 

Being buoyed up by the ground water, the oil should rise 
through the sands of the Coastal Plain sediments until a bed 

30 


of clay is reached. If porous and impervious beds were here 
regqlar in thickness and character, like those in the Appala¬ 
chian fields, and were similarly folded, the oil would travel to 
the crests of the anticlines and accumulate in long, narrow 
pools. The beds of this region are, however, most irregular. 
No two well sections, even if closely adjoining, exactly corre¬ 
spond. In Ohio alone the Berea sandstone extends over 15,000 
square miles with scarcely any variation in thickness and com¬ 
position. In the Coastal Plain, on the other hand, no single 
bed can be traced without material modification over 100 
square miles. Clay beds graduate laterally into sands, and 
vice versa. Under these conditions the small coastward dip 
of the sediments is practically negligible in comparison with 
the much steeper slopes formed by the irregular distribution 
of sands and clays. A large number of sand beds fortuitously 
distributed may touch, forming a single body, whose effect on 
the movements of ground water is that of an inclined stratum. 
This condition is illustrated in fig. —, in which the bedding 
planes are assumed to be horizontal, though bodies of porous 
and impervious sediments are distributed in such a way that 
the movements of ground water are along steep slopes. 

Not only are such slopes as are here described generally 
much steeper than the dips, but they conduct the oil now in one 
direction and now in another, so that the course pursued by 
the rising fluids may be inconceivably devious and the vertical 
component of the resulting movements very large. The lower 
surfaces of the clay bodies, taken as a whole, are irregular, 
and do not offer continuous slopes. The oil in its upward 
movement finds innumerable small pockets or traps in which 
it comes to rest. It may finally reach the surface and cause 
“surface indications” or it may accumulate in the sands in 
bodies of commercial importance as at Saratoga and Jennings. 

ACCUMULATION AT SPINDLE TOP. 

It is not impossible that the extraordinary pool at Spindle 
Top may have originated by the coming together of oil orig¬ 
inally disseminated, but if so, the oil must have traveled very 
long distances laterally, or the lower sediments in that vicinity 
must have had a peculiar composition. It is probable that the 
quaquaversal dip from Spindle Top extends but a short dis¬ 
tance beyond the limits of the oil field. If so, the structural 

31 


slopes, which guided the oil to the pool, must have been due to 
the irregular distribution of porous and impervious sediments. 
That such slopes, whose very existence is due to irregular dis¬ 
tribution, should be continuous for miles without a break in 
the impervious cover is remarkable. It is no less surprising 
that so large a proportion of the oil should have reached the 
central reservoir instead of being detained in pockets by the 
way (see fig. 12). As pointed out below, there are some indi¬ 
cations of an upward movement of ground water in the mounds 
and oil fields. This would involve lateral movement of sur¬ 
rounding ground waters toward the place of rising, thus aiding 
in the accumulation of oil. These considerations have a bear¬ 
ing on the question whether the Spindle Top oil was indepen¬ 
dent in origin from the mound itself and simply found the 
mound a convenient reservoir, or whether the making of the oil 
was a part of the same complex process which resulted in the 
peculiar assemblage of minerals which underlie the mound. 


F. '• 




F. 

r. 

L: 












' G '• 


— 




. A • 




Sand 


Gla\ 


FIGURE 12. (U. S. Geol. Sur. Bui. No. 282) Ideal section of irregular inter- 
bedded sands and clays Oil may be borne up from A and B past C, D, E 
and F, accumulating at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The proportion of clay may be much 
larger than here represented and the motion of the fluids may be more nearly 
horizontal. 


Reservoirs. 

IN THE SAND. 

The Coastal Plain oils are found in two classes of reservoirs, 
sands and porous limestone. In either case the impervious 

32 
































































































































































































cover is mainly of clay. Sometimes the oil-bearing sand is 
overlain by a thin bed of dense limestone which is locally called 
the “cap.” As such limestones are frequent in the clays, and 
are no more impervious than the clays themselves, they play 
no essential part in the retention of the oil. They are men¬ 
tioned here merely to guard against attaching significance to 
them. 

Where the accumulation of oil in the sands is considerable, 
it is necessarily prevented by impervious beds from escaping 
laterally as well as upward. The absence of oil from coarse, 
loose sands may frequently be due to the fact that it is free to 
escape upward around the edges of the clay cover. Where 
circulation is free, sands so situated become the so-called 
“water sands.” 

IN THE LIMESTONE. 

The oil-bearing limestone of the mounds may be either 
porous or cavernous, or both. Where completely crystalline, 
a part of the oil is contained in the pores between the indi¬ 
vidual crystals. Not all the porous limestone contains oil. At 
Spindle Top no limestone was found with empty caverns, while 
at Damon Mound, where the rock is very cavernous, no oil is 
found. In the Matagorda field a part of the cavernous lime¬ 
stone bears oil, but some fragments came to the surface per¬ 
fectly clear and unstained by oil. From this evidence and 
from the high degree of independence among wells (compare 
pp. 60, 122) it may be inferred that the oil-bearing limestone 
varies greatly from place to place in the amount of pore space, 
that it comprises a group of small reservoirs or compartments 
rather than a single large one, and that neighboring compart¬ 
ments in the same “pool” may be entirely without communica¬ 
tion. 

Beneath the reservoirs in the sand are generally thick clays, 
and beneath the porous limestones are various impervious for¬ 
mations, among which clay, marl, and gypsum are common. In 
no case can it be shown that the beds beneath the oil are less 
impervious than those above. (It is necessary to assume either 
that the oil entered the reservoir from the sides or that, pre¬ 
vious to its accumulation as an oil body, the substance of the 
oil existed in some form in which it was able to traverse clay 
more rapidly than at present.) 


CHAPTER V. 

Surface Signs of Petroleum. 

Have surface indications of gas been found in the oil fields 
of Texas and Louisiana? 

Yes. This has been along with a slight elevation of the sur¬ 
face—the most common surface indication. 

How can gas be found when it comes to the surface? 

Gas bubbles may be seen in wells or in creeks arising to the 
surface, or after heavy rains (more especially following a dry 
spell) when a sheet of water covers the ground, gas bubbles 
may be seen coming to the surface through crevices or craw¬ 
fish holes. 

Would all such bubbles likely be gas? 

> No. It might be merely air released from below. 

How could the difference be ascertained to a certainty? 

By burning it. 

How may one cheaply test it to see if it will burn ? 

Invert a can or other vessel which has a small hole in its 
bottom in the water, letting it fill with water to drive all air 
from the vessel. Turn the vessel bottom up. Place your thumb 
over the hole, keeping the vessel over the bubbles, so they rise 
in your can. The gas or air will be thus trapped at the top of 
the water under the bottom of the vessel. When you remove 
your thumb hold a lighted match to the hole. As the vessel 
settles in the water it drives the gas through the hole where it 
will be lighted by the match and burn. If merely trapped air, 
it, of course, will not burn. 

If it proves to be gas, does that prove the presence of natural 
gas? A 

No. Not in the sense we use the term. It may be marslt gas. 

What is the difference between the flame of marsh gas and 
gas from oil? 

Gas that arises from marshes, or from other beds of decom¬ 
posing vegetable matter, burns with a non-luminous flamed Gas 
arising from oil burns with a luminous flame. 

What is a non-luminous flame? 

One that does not show in sunlight, or that does not illum¬ 
inate, to any extent, the darkness at night. 

What is the chemical difference between marsh and oil gas? 

34 



Natural gas is methane gas with other gases mixed with it. 

Marsh gas is usually nearly pure methane. 

How much methane is in oil gas? 

The proportion varies. Sometimes there is as much as 90 
per cent. 

When the gas is proven to be all or mostly methane, does 
that prove that it has not arisen from underground pockets of 
oil or natural gas? 

Not conclusively. If the natural gas has filtered through 
many feet of earth it might have lost much of its luminosity. 

What further tests might be made or steps taken to guide in 
a decision? 

The place from which the gas came could be examined for 
decayed animal or vegetable matter, which, if found in quanti¬ 
ties sufficient to cause the amount of gas in that locality, would 
be evidence that it had its origin in much decayed matter. If 
little or any decayed matter was found, or if the quantity of gas 
was too great to arise from such decomposition or too widely 
extended over the locality in which it was found, it would indi¬ 
cate other origin than that of marsh gas. The best indication 
of all that the gas came from oil would be the leaving of an oily 
film on the water when the bubble broke. 

Might not water heavily charged with iron also have a film 
which would be released by the gas bubbles? 

Yes, but such a film would break into pieces easily, while the 
oil film, though very slight, would spread out evenly. 

What other signs for oil might appear at the surface of the 
earth besides those mentioned ? 

Sulphur in crystals or in springs. Sour water in wells or 
springs. The presence at the surface or below of asphaltum or 
other residue of oil, but the best sign of all is a seepage of the 
oil itself. 

Do scientists attach much importance to gas mounds as oil 
indications? 

No. Fenneman, United States Geologist, says: “Whatever 
may be their origin there is as yet no evidence that they are 
in any way related to oil bodies—these mounds are so widely 
distributed over the flat coastal plains that as guides to drill- 

35 


4 


ing they are of no value whatever.” These mounds are not to 
be confounded with large mounds like Spindle Top, as he says: 
“By far the largest significance has very justly been attached 
to low mounds of the Spindle Top type.” 

What theories are advanced to account for the so-called gas 
mounds? 

(1) Some scientists believe they were made by man long 
ago. But their wide distribution, great number and their lack 
of logical grouping, prove to most minds that the theory is 
incorrect. 

(2) Some think they were made by animals, and of these 
ants seem a more probable agent than burrowing animals. But 
their extension in great lines across the country instead of in 
groups and also the nature of their grouping convince most 
people that this theory is unsatisfactory. 

(3) Some think they were made by the wind. But their 
shape, size and the nature of their distribution disprove this 
theory. Then again the wind only piles up the soil where the 
vegetation is scant and the rainfall small, while in the regions 
of the mounds there is plenty of rain and a luxuriant vegeta¬ 
tion. 

(4) A few people believe the mounds were formed by 
erosion or the washing away of the surrounding soil. But here 
again the shape, location and grouping disprove the theory. 

(5) There are yet a few people who suggest that they 
might have been formed by the pressure of surface clay on fine 
sands or sandy loam filled with water which caused the sands 
to be forced up through weak places in the clays to form the 
mounds. While it is doubtful whether this process would oper¬ 
ate on a scale large enough to produce such a great number of 
mounds, yet to the mind of the writer this last suggestion seems 
the most reasonable of any advanced, except that they were 
caused by gas rising to the surface from great depths. 

What has the writer’s study of these mounds revealed con¬ 
cerning them? 

(a) That they usually are found on the divides or highest 
lines of the Coast Country, but may exist on low ground or 
small bulged up areas. 

(b) That the mounds may be found scattered about along 
a line several miles in length or there may be but a few of them, 
covering but a small area. 


(c) That though at times they are somewhat elongated, 
usually they are circular flat structures. 

(d) That they vary from a few inches to a few feet in 
height. 

(e) That they sometimes surround depressions varying in 
extent from a few square rods to a few acres. These depres¬ 
sions usually contain a few inches of water. Many of them 
never go dry. 

(f) That in some sections of the country there is found 
accumulated at the base of the mound, on the ground surround¬ 
ing it, a black or brown substance, which appears to the writer 
to be a residuum of oil. Sometimes a waxy residuum is found 
but it is not so common as the black or brown material. These 
substances seem to have leached out of the mound and to have 
accumulated there by the evaporation of their volatile parts. 

(g) In some sections of country the material of the mound 
is a productive sandy loam, but usually it is mostly sand, and 
rather barren. The clay subsoil of those examined by the 
writer approached ve^y near to the surface and often appeared 
different in texture and color from that surrounding the mound. 
Where a creek had laid bare the subsoil to a depth of 10 to 20 
feet, washing the tops from a few mounds, the subsoil in the 
center below what was once a mound above seemed to have 
been chemically changed by some substance that had once 
arisen through it as it passd from lower depth to the surface. 
The writer found some of the mound covered divides located 
near streams of water; at times almost paralleling them for a 
distance of a mile or more, and so close to them that the divide 
appeared to be the “hill of the stream” merely, but a closer 
examination would reveal the fact that the water on the side 
away from the stream flowed away from it to another water 
course a few miles distant. Often the soil on the divide differed 
from that on each side and quite often the soil on the two sides 
of the divide were of different texture and color. The soil of a 
few of them is saturated with gas. The writer is convinced 
that these mound covered divides are anticlinal structures. 

What is the writer’s belief regarding the origin and forma¬ 
tion of these structures? 

(a) He believes that the same internal forces that buckled 
up the earth’s crust to form our mountain chains (perhaps that 

37 


of lateral pressure caused by the shrinking of the earth's 
interior), has caused the anticlinal divides of the Coastal 
regions. 

(b) That while these forces may have helped form the 
mounds by their pressure, he believes that a majority of them 
were made of mud, and water carried to the surface by gas as 
it rose through porous places in the earth's crust. 

(c) That the mounds when first formed were taller cone- 
shaped formations of mud which have since been flattened out 
and almost washed away by erosion. 

(d) That the porous conduits which once carried the gas 
became choked in the same way that some oil wells do now, and 
that the gas was thus securely sealed in. 

(e) That some of the depressions on the anticlinal divides 
were caused by blowouts of gas ages ago whose outlets finally 
became choked, and later were almost filled by erosion. Where 
now is found but a rim of earth a few feet high, perhaps once 
there existed a circle of dirt of enormous size. 

(f) That this gas with its attendant oil was originally from 
some great coal bed and was carried from the place of its origin 
along porous underground channels by streams of water whose 
circulation was caused by unequal shrinkage of the earth's 
interior, which made more pressure at one point than at others. 

(g) That the matter resembling a residuum of petroleum 
often found at the bases of the mounds are materials left there 
by the filtration of the gas through its earthy passageway to 
the surface. 

(h) That while those deep-seated streams may not now 
exist, it is possible that oil and gas once carried by them may 
yet exist in underground reservoirs, especially in sections 
where the soil, at present, over great areas, is saturated with 
natural gas. 

(U. S. Geol. Survey Bulletin 282, pp. 123, 124.) 

The surface indications which have led to the exploiting of 
the several fields are various. They may be divided into two 
classes—those which are common to oil fields in general, and 
those which owe their significance to the peculiar relations of 
the Coastal Plain oils. Almost all surface indications depend 
on a circulation of fluids. The lines of such circulation through 

38 



the sediments of the Coastal Plain have been shown to be very 
devious (see fig. 12, p. 32). A seepage at the surface, therefore, 
does not indicate the exact location of an oil body. The two may 
be miles apart. Usually surface indications are scattered thru- 
out an area which is many times that of the oil pool. Very 
abundant seepage of oil or gas may result from the want of an 
impervious cap or of domed structures which would make accu¬ 
mulation possible. It is, therefore, by no means to be inferred 
that the escape of a large amount of gas is a better indication 
than that of a small amount. Indeed, the best fields of the 
Coastal Plain have been marked by very modest indications. 

INDICATIONS COMMON TO OIL FIELDS IN GENERAL. 

Of the indications common to this and other fields, a seepage 
of oil is the best. This evidence has been found in a consider¬ 
able number of the Coastal Plain fields. It may, however, be 
confused, as it frequently has been, with another phenomenon 
which bears no relation to oil—the appearance of an iridescent 
scum of iron oxide on stagnant water in regions where the soil 
is strongly colored with limonite. This phenomenon is very com¬ 
mon in the red soil district of Eastern Texas. Closely related 
to a seepage of oil is the asphaltic substance sometimes found 
impregnating the soil at shallow depths. This evidence is not 
so widespread as are v the oil seepages in the Coastal Plain. It 
is well illustrated at Anse la Butte, Sour Lake, and the “Tar 
Springs” of Jasper County, Texas. The “sea wax” of the Gulf 
Coast belongs to the same class of phenomena. By far the 
most common of all evidences is the escape of gases. Indeed, 
this phenomenon is so widespread that it is entirely unsatis¬ 
factory as an indication of the place where drilling should 
begin. In this, again, the phenomena of importance are fre¬ 
quently confused with those which have no significance what¬ 
ever. To the latter class belongs the escape of marsh gas from 
recently buried sediments. A very simple distinction, having 
some significance, is that based on the leaving of an oily film on 
the water after the breaking of a bubble. The leaving of such 
a film may be regarded as evidence that the gas contains petro¬ 
leum vapor and may therefore suggest the presence of oil at 
the place from which the gas came. It must, however, be 
remembered that on the one hand there is much “dry gas” even 


in the oil fields, and on the other hand the quantity of oil whose 
presence is thus indicated may be very small. 

INDICATIONS BASED ON LOCAL CONDITIONS. 

Some significance is attached to a number of phenomena on 
observational grounds alone, their relation to oil not being 
satisfactorily explained. Of this class of surface indications 
the escape of hydrogen sulphide probably deserves the most 
consideration. At places the bubbling up of the gas itself 
through stagnant water is all that is to be seen. At other places 
the waters have become more or less strongly sulphureted. In 
some districts, around the mouths of shallow wells, an incrusta¬ 
tion of pure sulphur is continuously forming. Closely related 
to the escape of this compound of sulphur are the so-called 
“sour waters.” These are best known at Sour Lake, but are by 
no means uncommon. Their salts are largely sulphates, and 
their significance may be similar to that of sulphureted hydro¬ 
gen, all being members of a group of substances which are 
related in origin. 

A phenomenon which has carried far more weight than just¬ 
ly belongs to it is found in the so-called “gas mounds.” These 
are low, rounded mounds, averaging perhaps 2 feet in height 
and several rods in diameter. In view of their vast numbers on 
the flat Coastal Plain, they show remarkable uniformity in size 
and shape. They are popularly supposed to be connected with 
the escape of gases from the soil. Whatever be their origin, 
there is as yet no evidence that they are in any way related to 
oil bodies. Even were such a relation assumed, these mounds 
are so widely distributed over the flat Coastal Plain, that as 
guides to drilling they are of no value whatever. 

On the uneroded parts of the Coastal Plain, by far the largest 
significance has very justly been attached to low mounds of the 
Spindle Top type. No oil has been found in the higher mounds. 
Since the surficial elevation must be regarded as merely inci¬ 
dental to the geologic structure, and since the most abundantly 
oil bearing of all (Spindle Top) is but 10 feet high, it is highly 
probable that the characteristic structure and materials exist 
at many spots not marked by an elevation. The chance of find¬ 
ing these materials under elevated spots is, however, vastly 
greater than elsewhere. 


40 


There is some reason for thinking that such structures are 
ranged along lines of slight crustal deformation or disturbance. 
If such lines exist, they probably trend northeast and south¬ 
west. This probability may well be recognized in prospecting 
for new fields. 


CHAPTER VI. 

Oil Wells. 

(Answers Compiled from Technical Paper 51, United States 

Bureau of Mines.) 

What are some of the causes of the decline in the yield of oil 
wells ? 

1st. The formation of waxy sediments that obstruct the 
passage of oil from the sand. 

2nd. A decline of the gas pressure in the district. 

3rd. A decrease in the quantity of oil draining by gravity 
down the dip into the area affected by the well. 

4th. A decrease of the oil supply within the drainage area 
of a well on account of nearby development or the original 
limits of the pool. 

5th. Flooding by non-encroaching salt water under low 
pressure. 

6th. Flooding of the productive formation by salt water 
under high pressure. 

7th. Flooding by fresh water from the surface or from an 
overlying water-bearing formation. 

8th. The drilling of neighboring wells. 

9th. The improper casing of the well. An unwise rate and 
time of pumping. 

When a decline in the yield of a well is due to the formation 
of a waxy sediment, how can it be overcome ? 

By drilling new wells surrounding the old one. 

Has the drilling of new wells under such circumstances 
proved a success? 

Yes. In Northern Pennsylvania it was a common occurrence 
to find that the second and third crop of wells produced large 
quantities of oil after the territory had been abandoned as 
exhausted. 

« 

Are great quantities of gas ever a detriment to wells? 

Yes. When in large amounts and under high pressure the 

41 


gas sometimes wrecks the well and derrick, doing great dam¬ 
age. 

How does the gas aid a well ? 

1st. It helps by its pressure to force the oil up and out of 
the well. 

2nd. It helps cause a movement of the surrounding oil 
toward the well to replace that being drawn out. 

3rd. It aids by its pressure in holding back the water which 
might by a flanking movement cut off a large section of the 
producing area. 

4th. It aids in checking the rise of the water existing in 
the lower part of the oil sand. 

How does gravitation sometimes aid a well? 

In a soft or very porous stratum of rather pronounced dip, 
or one that lies in such a manner as to form a decided catch¬ 
ment area for oil, the movement of the oil by gravitation down 
the incline may replace the oil being pumped from the well. 

Has the drilling of neighboring wells ever aided those 
already producing by increasing their flow? 

Where there is but little gas or other pressure, and where 
oil is confined in a “practically sealed reservoir,” the oil cannot 
flow readily to the well unless something takes the place of the 
vacuum such a flow would create. The air pressure from the 
new well or wells, if they tap the reservoir higher up, the dip 
of a syncline might admit the air and allow the oil to move 
down the incline to the well nearer the bottom of the dip. 


DEEP WELLS. 

One of the deepest wells put down with a rotary rig was 
made by the Producers Company at Humble, Texas, in the 
Wheeler-Pickens Subdivision—the chief object of the test being 
to find out what is below the salt deposit at that point. The hole 
was put down 5410 feet in 45 days, making an average of over 
120 feet per day. Drilling was begun May 25, 1916, and 467 
feet of the ten-inch casing was set six days later. On June 10th 
six-inch casing was set at a depth of 1815 feet. On June 14th 
strainer was set and an unsuccessful test made for oil at 2001 
feet. On June 17th drilling was resumed inside the 4j^>-inch 
strainer with a 2i/>-inch drill rod and the 4!/2-i n ch hole was 
continued until the test was abandoned. Rock salt was encoun- 

42 



tered at 2342 feet and the drill passed through 3068 feet of it 

without reaching its lower limit. - 

The other deep tests drilled in Texas, all with rotary machin¬ 
ery, are at Spur, in Dickens County, by Swenson & Sons, of 
4489 feet; that near Vidor, Orange County, by C. C. Codman, 
of 4640 feet, and that at Spindle Top, Jefferson County, by the 
Gulf Production Company, of 4720 feet. It required nearly 
two years to drill the Dickens County test; nearly six months 
to drill the Orange County test, and nearly eight months to drill 
the Jefferson County test. 


(Water Supply Paper 257, U. S. Geolog. Survey, pp. 31-32.) 

The deepest well drilled with a cable, the deepest well in the 
United States, and the third deepest well in the world, is the 
one made two and one-half miles west of West Elizabeth, Penn¬ 
sylvania, in search of oil. It was made from 10-in. to 6 1/4-in. 
in diameter, and drilled to a depth of 5575 feet, costing $40,000. 

The deepest bore in the world is that in Upper Silesia, Ger¬ 
many, being 3.6 inches to 2.7 inches in diameter and 6572 feet 
deep, made when prospecting for coal. 

Movement of Ground Water in the Mounds. 

(U. S. Geol. Survey Bulletin 282, pages 120 to 123.) 

A number of phenomena seem to indicate local upward move¬ 
ment of the ground waters of the Coastal Plain. These phenom¬ 
ena are more frequent in or near the mounds and oil fields than 
elsewhere. 

SALINITY. 

One evidence of vertical circulation lies in the distribution 
of fresh and salt ground waters. It may safely be assumed 
that, in general, the movement of coastal-plain ground waters 
is coastward and that this water is supplied by rain on the 
land. Therefore when a coastal plain has been long out of 
water, the salt water originally contained in the sediments will 
be replaced by fresh water. At great depths salt water may 
persist longer. Drilling has shown that the water may be 
fresh to a depth of more than 1000 feet. That which came 
from the bottom of the Galveston well (3070 feet deep) was 
only brackish. The water from a depth of 100 or 200 feet at 
Sour Lake or Batson is quite as salt as that which came from 

43 




3000 feet at Galveston. With greater depths the salinity rapid¬ 
ly increases. Even a mass of salt such as underlies Spindle Top 
could not produce this local effect without an upward circu¬ 
lation. 

The frequent proximity of salines or salt marshes to oil 
fields has been remarked by Mr. Lee Hager. The perennial 
dampness of many such spots is believed to be due to rising 
waters. 

TEMPERATURE. 

The temperature of waters in or near the oil fields is fre¬ 
quently much higher than the normal for the depth from which 
the water comes. Most observations of well temperatures in 
the oil fields have been made under conditions which did not 
insure accuracy, but there is general agreement in the testi¬ 
mony. The normal ground temperature at a depth of 30 feet 
at Batson is about 74 degrees F. Adding 1 degree for each 50 
feet of additional depth the temperature at 1000 feet should 
be about 93 degrees F. Temperatures of 116 degrees, 122 
degrees and 126 degrees are reported at Batson. Wells several 
miles from the field report even hotter waters. A temperature 
of 180 degrees is reported from a well near the Saratoga field. 
Matagorda had a strong artesian flow of sulphur water at a 
temperature of 99 3/5 degrees from a depth of 700 feet. Vari¬ 
ous wells at Sour Lake and Jennings showed temperatures 
above 100 degrees. In some fields, as at Jennings, it has been 
observed that abnormal temperatures were not encountered 
above the oil, but came in suddenly when wells were drilled 
deeper. 

THE WORK OF RISING GROUND WATERS. 

Both the abnormal temperatures and the abnormal salinity 
suggest upward movements of ground waters. Future study 
may perhaps show that ground waters have been concerned in 
making the salt and gypsum of the mounds, as well as the crys¬ 
talline limestone, whose origin has already been explained. It 
may even appear that the pressure exerted during the growth 
or alteration of these bodies was sufficient to raise the mounds. 
The agency of circulating waters in the accumulation, not only 
of the oil in the Coastal Plain pools, but also of the associated 
sulphur, dolomite and salt, has been suggested by Hill. 

44 


The hypothesis is as follows: The oil and salt pockets of the 
Texas Coastal Plain are probably not indigenous to the strata 
in which they are found, but are the resultant products of 
columns of hot saline waters which have ascended, under 
hydrostatic pressure, at points along lines of structural weak¬ 
ness through thousands of feet of shale, sand, and marine 
littoral sediments of the Coastal Plain section, through which 
oil and sand are disseminated in more or less minute quantities. 
The oil, with sulphur, may have been floated upward on these 
waters, and the salt and dolomite may have been crystallized 
from the saturated solution. 

The channels of these ascending waters may have been in 
places of structural weakness, such as fissures, which probably 
at one time continued to the surface, but may have been sealed 
by the deposition of the later overlapping strata now capping 
the oil pools. 

Many facts may be adduced in support of this hypothesis, 
although it must be admitted that it presents some serious diffi¬ 
culties. The mode of accumulation of the enormous masses of 
rock salt which occur in the Louisiana Salt Islands, in Damon 
Mound, in High Island, and also in Spindle Top, has never 
been satisfactorily explained. For a variety of reasons it does 
not seem possible that they can be the result of evaporation of 
sea water in natural salt pans, which is supposed to be the 
origin of most deposits of rock salt. It may therefore be neces¬ 
sary to refer their origin to precipitation from rising ground 
waters, though no plausible reason has yet been suggested for 
the precipitation of the salt. 

The spot at which the ground water rises may be determined 
by the absence of a continuous clay cover or by a small fault. 
In either case any oil brought up would escape so long as the 
vent remained open to the surface. If the vent were subse¬ 
quently sealed by the deposition of impervious beds, the oil 
might collect in a pool. It has been suggested as a possible 
explanation of the difference between the oil-bearing mounds 
like Spindle Top, on the one hand, and those barren of oil like 
Damon Mound and the Salt Islands, on the other, that the vents 
of the former were thus sealed after the salt had been deposited 
while those of the latter had remained open. 

45 


Relation of the Oil to Gas and Salt Water. 

GAS. 

Gas may be encountered at any depth, either with or with¬ 
out the oil. That found above the oil, or in fields where no oil 
is found, is commonly called “dry gas.” If this be allowed to 
escape it sometimes happens that a spray of oil begins to show 
in the gas after a few hours or a few days. This points to 
some communication between the reservoirs of gas and oil. 
Much gas is so closely associated with the oil that the two issue 
simultaneously. This is the “poisonous gas” of the gushers. 
In the reservoirs it is probably contained in the oil under pres¬ 
sure instead of accumulated above it. Gas is also frequently 
found beneath an oil body. This phenomenon of a lighter fluid 
beneath a heavier indicates that the two are separated by an 
impervious bed. 

SALT WATER. 

Salt water occurs both above and below oil bodies. Two or 
three alternations may be found, each water horizon being 
separated from the next underlying oil by a bed of clay. In 
some cases the two fluids are contained in the same reservoir, 
the salt water gradually replacing the oil at the top of the 
reservoir as the oil is pumped out or expelled by gas pressure. 

INDEPENDENCE AMONG WELLS. 

Neighboring wells in the limestone show by their behavior 
a large degree of mutual independence. To a less degree this 
is true of wells in the sands. The depths of wells in the lime¬ 
stone vary greatly within short distances. One well may pro¬ 
duce oil, and a deeper well near by may yield only gas, or a 
shallower one may be yielding salt water. The behavior of the 
same well at different times may be still more strange. A few 
wells have gone entirely to salt water and after days or weeks 
have begun again to yield oil in large quantities. In some cases 
the later yield was pure oil with no water. These phenomena 
of independence among wells and of abnormal behaviors are 
due to the subdivision of the reservoir into many compart¬ 
ments. Communication among these compartments is of all 
degrees of freedom. Some of them may be entirely sealed. A 
number of small rooms may be drained by the same well, either 
simultaneously or successively. One room may contain mainly 

46 


oil, another mainly gas, or a single room may contain all three 
fluids. These conditions are sufficient to account for all appar¬ 
ently abnormal phenomena. 

Well Phenomena. 

LOSS OF WATER. 

In drilling by the rotary process it may occur at any time 
that the water being pumped into the well suddenly fails to 
reappear. This is called “losing the water.” It indicates that 
a porous stratum has been entered. The nature of the rock can 
not be determined except by the behavior of the tools, for with¬ 
out a return flow no samples are obtainable. The failure to get 
a return of the water does not necessarily prevent further drill¬ 
ing, for, in its escape into the porous or cavernous rock, it may, 
for a time, at least, carry with it the cuttings and thus keep 
the bottom of the hole clear. If the uncased part of the hole 
does not cave the working of the tools is not interfered with. 
The continued pumping in of “slush” (often thickened under 
such circumstances) may sufficiently choke the pores by which 
the water has escaped to restore the return flow, or the porous 
bed may be drilled through and cased, allowing the drilling to 
go on as before. 

This sudden loss of water may occur in the sands above the 
oil rock, but at Spindle Top it was more frequent at the horizon 
of the latter. It is not to be understood that when water is 
lost the porous bed into which it is passing is either dry or 
lacking in gas pressure. It may bear water, oil or gas. The 
sinking of the column of water in the drill pipe merely indi¬ 
cates that the fluid pressure within the rock is less than that of 
the column in the well. Therefore, if the well be bailed, it may 
blow out or gush, the oil being brought up as a spray, or it 
may be a good pumping well. Under the conditions which 
allow the water to be lost it must not be expected that the well 
will flow either water or a solid stream of oil. 

SUDDEN DROPPING OF TOOLS. 

A phenomenon sometimes associated with the loss of water 
(though either may occur independently) is a sudden drop¬ 
ping of the drilling tools. Frequently such a drop is reported 
as 3 or 4 feet, or even twice that amount, though doubtless the 
reports are exaggerated. Such drops are generally believed 

47 


by drillers to indicate great cavities. Small drops while drill¬ 
ing in the limestone may, indeed, be so explained, but in many 
instances a cavity in the limestone can not be assumed. Many 
drops are reported as occurring in a sand just below a hard 
plate of limestone. The drill may have worked hours and per¬ 
haps days on the thin limestone, a strong current of water all 
the time washing the bottom of the hole. This current may 
have access by a fracture to the underlying sand and wash out 
a great cavity in the latter before the drill has passed through 
the limestone. The tools then drop. It will be observed that 
sand, in which the drop so frequently occurs, is a poor sub¬ 
stance to support large cavities. Probably in most cases it is 
not necessary to assume a cavity, but a quicksand produced 
by continued injection of water. A sudden loss of water may 
follow the drop of the tools. 

WELL PRESSURE. 

(The phenomenon of gushing, so common in all the large 
fields of the Coastal Plain, implies great pressure.) In some 
cases it has shown almost explosive violence, blowing out cas¬ 
ing and breaking heavy cast-iron valves. The maximum pres¬ 
sure has never been even approximately measured. Some 
closed pressures of 500 pounds and over per square inch have 
been reported, but these are not well vouched for. The reliable 
measurements vary from 79 to 350 pounds. The following 
are the most trustworthy measurements which have been made 
of closed pressure: 

Measurements of closed pressure of oil wells in Gulf Coastal 


Plain field: Pounds. 

American Oil and Refining Company. 79 

Texas Oil and Pipe Line.. 112 

Trans-Mississippi. 300 

Yellow Pine. 340 

San Jacinto No. 1. 350 

The Hooks well at Saratoga showed a steady closed pressure 

of 127 pounds. 

******** 


It appears highly probable that the pressure in the oil reser¬ 
voir is due largely to the expansive force of the associated gas. 
When the oil rock is penetrated by the drill it is usually, though 
not always, necessary to remove the water from the casing by 

48 







bailing. When the pressure is thus relieved there is first a rush 
of gas, followed by a stream of oil, which is expelled with great 
violence. The oil, however, never flows in a steady stream like 
the water from an artesian well, but by a series of jets or pul¬ 
sations. These may be relatively slow, each flow of oil lasting 
for several minutes, followed by an equal or longer period of 
quiescence, in which only gas escapes; or they may be rapid, 
several pulsations occurring within a single minute. The rap¬ 
idity of the pulsations appears to depend, among other things, 
upon the depth to which the well is drilled into the oil rock; 
and their rapidity,' and consequently the yield of the well, is 
generally increased by deeper boring. It is also probably 
influenced by the character of the oil rock, the more porous 
rock yielding its contained oil more rapidly than that which is 
relatively compact. In addition to this longer period the 
stream of oil generally shows a very rapid pulsation similar 
to that observed in a jet of mingled water and steam when a 
boiler is blown off. 

A common method of raising oil in wells which do not flow 
is to carry air under high pressure to the bottom of the well 
by means of a small pipe within the casing. When the air is 
turned on ana accumulates sufficient pressure to lift the col¬ 
umn of oil in the casing, the oil is expelled in a pulsating 
stream exactly similar to a natural gusher. In the one case, 
however, the expansive force of artificially compressed air is 
the expelling force, and in the other case it is the expansive 
force of the naturally compressed gas which is associated with 
the oil in the rock reservoir. 

In addition to the expansive force of the gas, there is also 
probably some hydrostatic pressure in this field, but its influ¬ 
ence in producing the phenomena of a gusher must be rela¬ 
tively insignificant. Quite generally throughout the Coastal 
Plain region an artesian water flow is obtained at depths 
ranging from 600 to 1,500 feet, but this has only a very mod¬ 
erate head. This is seen in the 1,400-foot artesian well at the 
Beaumont court house, where the head is only a few inches 
above the surface. (The invasion of wells by salt water is, 
doubtless, in some cases, due to hydrostatic pressure; in other 
cases it is due to gas pressure.) * * * 

49 


If the pressure to which the gushing in the Spindle Top and 
other Coastal Plain pools is due is chiefly the expansive force 
of gas, it follows that this force will expel only a part of the 
oil and the remainder will necessarily be won by pumping 
or by supplying the place of the natural gas by compressed 
air. (This has already been demonstrated in the case of 
Spindle Top, where gushing ceased in 1903.) 

CHAPTER VII. 

Oil Fields. 

How are oil and gas fields sometimes classified with regard 
to the nature of their reservoirs? 

Into two kinds designated as “Saline Domes” and “Regular 
Stratum” fields. 

What is the nature of the reservoir in a typical Saline Dome 
field? 

The reservoir is usually such that the oil is found in enor¬ 
mous quantities and in a highly concentrated state, which 
permits the oil and gas to flow readily to the well and gush 
forth in such quantities that the oil may soon be drained from 
the reservoir. Surrounding the dome the territory is barren. 
At places underlying the porous stratum which constitutes 
the reservoir is found rock salt in great quantities. Some¬ 
times this crystalline salt extends very near the surface and 
the oil is found in pockets or small reservoirs near the edge 
of the dome. Usually very little oil and gas is found a mile 
or more from the crest of the dome, while in the “Regular 
Stratum” fields the reservoirs may extend over great areas. 

Besides rock salt what other materials commonly make up 
the nuclei of Saline Domes? 

Crystalline cavernous limestone, gypsum and sulphur. 

How do some geologists account for the presence of these 
domes? 

(1) Some believe them made by the deposit of the rock 
salt brought there and formed under great pressure by ascend¬ 
ing currents of salt water and that the salt deposit as it 
formed has bulged the surface upward. 

(2) Some believe that other internal forces of the earth 
have caused crustal movements which have made weak places 
where the greatest crust fracturing stress has developed and 

50 


that these domes have been bulged upward where several 
faults or fractured places have crossed and that the deposits 
below accumulated after the mound was formed. It is con¬ 
ceded by most geologists that the oil and gas were not formed 
in the mound but had migrated to the reservoir from their 
place of origin. But little was known of the formation of the 
salt domes previous to 1901 when oil was first secured from 
them in commercial quantities. Spindle Top, at Beaumont, 
Texas, is a typical salt dome oil field. 

How do the Regular Stratum oil fields differ from the 
Saline Dome fields? 

(1) The oil in the Regular Stratum fields is found in wide¬ 
spread, well known geological strata, as at Corsicana, Texas, 
or in the Caddo fields in Northwestern Louisiana, or in the 
fields of Eastern United States, or of Europe. These forma¬ 
tions are sometimes called oil-horizons. 

In what geological formations is the oil of the Regular Stra¬ 
tum fields found? 

It is supposed to be present in all fossilliferous formations. 
In Europe it is found principally in the Tertiary. In Penn¬ 
sylvania and Kentucky, in the Upper Devonian; in Canada, 
in the Lower Devonian; in West Virginia, in the Sub-Carbon¬ 
iferous; in Ohio, in Upper Devonian and Lower Silurian; in 
Colorado, in the Cretaceous; in California, in the Miocene 
Tertiary. 

What kinds of rock form the reservoirs for the oil in the 
Regular Stratum fields? 

Any kind of porous rock that would hold water might also 
be oil-bearing if located in such a way that it is largely sur¬ 
rounded with impervious shales or clays that would trap and 
hold the oil. The most common materials of the reservoirs are 
limestones and sandstones. 

At what depths are oil and gas found in the Appalachian 
fields? 

At depths usually ranging from 400 to 3000 feet, though 
some are very much deeper. 

Of what materials are the oil reservoirs made? 

The reservoirs are made up of layers of porous sandstone 
which are separated by shaly beds. Within the sandstone 
layers the oil has accumulated in “pools, 1 ” presumably under 
the influence of gravity. 


51 


At what depths are oil and gas found in the Western Ohio, 
Indiana and Eastern Illinois field? 

The wells of this field usually range in depth from 100 to 
1400 feet. 

Of what materials are the oil reservoirs made? 

In Ohio and Indiana the reservoirs are made of Trenton 
limestone. In Eastern Illinois they are made from soft and 
very porous limestone lying beneath beds of shale, being quite 
different from the reservoirs in Pennsylvania. 

At what depths are oil and gas found in the Oklahoma and 
Kansas oil fields? 

The depth of the productive beds in Kansas are 400 feet to 
700 feet; farther South, in Oklahoma, they are much deeper, 
being in many instances over 1000 feet deep. 

Of what materials are the oil reservoirs made in these 
fields? 

Of sandstone interbedded with shale. It appears that the 
reservoirs are in the form of lenses whose position and extent 
cannot easily be predicted. 

At what depths are oil and gas found in Louisiana and 
Texas? 

At depths usually ranging from a couple of hundred feet 
to 3500 feet. Quite a great quantity of it was found between 
600 and 1200 feet below the surface. 

Of what materials are the oil reservoirs made? 

At Spindle Top the reservoir was made up largely of a very 
porous, almost cavernous limestone or dolomite. In many 
other sections it was largely formed of unconsolidated sands, 
although some sand rock and limestone were also found bear¬ 
ing oil and gas. 

At what depths are oil and gas found in the California 
fields? 

Like as in other fields, it ranges from shallower wells to 
very deep ones, some being as much as 4000 feet deep. 

Of what materials are the oil reservoirs made? 

Of friable sandstones and shales. 

Spindle Top Oil Field. 

(To illustrate a Typical Saline Dome Field.) 

(Answers compiled largely from U. S. Geol. Bui. 282.) 

Where is it, what is its elevation, topography and area? 

52 


This field is located three miles southeast of Beaumont, in 
Jefferson County, Texas. Its maximum elevation above sea 
level is 30 feet. Its most elevated portion is 10 feet above the 
surrounding prairie, which is very flat. The area of the ele¬ 
vation is about 200 acres, but only about one-half of this is 
as much as seven feet higher than the surrounding country. 
The slope is steepest on the south side and least observable on 
the north. The mound is slightly elongated with a gentle sag 
separating the western portion from the main. body. 

What were the surface indications for oil before the dis¬ 
covery of the field? 

The elevation of the mound above the surface of the sur¬ 
rounding country. Gas bubbling up in the pools of water 
after heavy rains. Gas in shallow water wells, and in an 
instance or two slightly sulphurous waters in wells. It was 
also claimed that oil seepages and incrustations of sulphur 
were noted on the surface. 

What is the character of the strata overlying the oil reser¬ 
voirs? 

The first 500 or 600 feet seems to be made up of clays and 
sand, with perhaps a few thin seams of sandstone or shells. 
After the first 500 feet a few strata of sand with oil were 
encountered by many of the drillers, and also pockets of gas 

at high pressure. The cap rock was a limestone varying in 
thickness from 3 to 50 feet. It was usually found at a depth 
of 900 to 1000 feet. 

What has been learned about the oil reservoir of this field? 

It appears in a great measure to be co-extensive to the 
mound above, although in some places its boundary lines show 
its outline to be somewhat dome-shaped, the dip to the north 
being much steeper than that to the south. Its highest arch 
is about 300 feet. The maximum thickness of the reservoir 
rock is over 200 feet. This rock is a very porous, in places 
almost cavernous, limestone. In some portions of the field, 
more especially in the western part, oil was found in sand. 
Oil was also found in small quantities in sand strata above the 
main reservoir. Under the enormous gas pressure of some of 
the wells the porous rock of the reservoir was broken up and 
carried out of the well with the oil and gas, some pieces of it 
being almost or quite an inch in diameter. 

53 


Was the first attempt at boring successful at Spindle Top? 

No. Mr. Patillo Higgins, in 1894, drilled a well to a depth 
of 400 feet, but it was too shallow to penetrate the oil reser¬ 
voir. 

When was the first successful well finished? 

January 19, 1901, by Captain Lucas. His first gusher was 
supposed to have yielded close to 75,000 barrels of oil per day. 

What enormous yields of oil were claimed in this field? 

The Heywood well No. 2 claimed a production of as much 
as 4000 barrels per hour, or 96,000 barrels per day. During 
the first five years of the life of the field it produced 37,000,000 
barrels of oil which, confined in a tank having a base equal to 
the area of the field, would have filled it to a depth of 22 feet. 

What about the life of the wells in this field? 

The average life of the well was short, lasting sometimes 
but a few weeks, and rarely more than a few months. 

Was the gas pressure in the field very great? 

Yes. Especially in strata located above the oil reservoir, 
where a number of very destructive “blowouts” occurred, often 
wrecking the machinery and derrick and driving the casing 
from the well. Sometimes sand and mud were blown with the 
gas from the well till they covered the ground near by to a 
depth of several feet. The blowout usually continued until 
the gas pocket was exhausted or the hole became clogged. 

What is supposed to be the cause of the oil gushing out with 
such power? 

The pressure of the gas which was confined below. Usually 
great quantities of gas came out with the oil. 

What was the nature of this gas? 

It was often of a deadly nature, causing death to those who 
inhaled it, and painfully affecting the eyes of the workers in 
the field. In many instances (especially where gas was 
encountered in a dry state and nearest the surface), no such 
bad effects were noted from it. 

As the oil in the field failed, what took its place? 

Salt water. The gas evidently occupied the highest strata 
of the porous materials of the reservoir. Underlying the gas 
was an immense body of oil, and beneath the oil, completely 
saturating the porous beds of the reservoir, were great quan¬ 
tities of salt water. Usually the salt water first appeared in 

54 


the wells around the edges of the oil pool following the exhaus¬ 
tion of the oil and spread toward the center, but the advance 
was extremely irregular. Some wells in the early life of the 
field were exhausted before the advent of the salt water. 
Higgins well No. 10, after producing oil at the rate of 600 
barrels per day for some time, suddenly began to flow salt 
water, which flow it kept up for 94 days, after which the 
well began again to produce oil steadily. 

Was rock salt encountered in the boring at Spindle Top? 

Yes: In a few instances it was found above the oil reser¬ 
voir, but usually it was encountered in deep borings below the 
depth at which the oil was found. The Iowa-Beaumont well 
encountered rock salt at 1200 feet and was still in the same 
material when the well was abandoned at 1790 feet. The 
Higgins No. 19 entered rock salt at 1647 feet and continued 
in it to 1990 feet. 


Caddo Oil Field. 

(To illustrate a Typical Regular Stratum Field.) 

(Answers on Caddo Field Compiled From United States 

Geolog. Bulletin 619.) 

Where is the Caddo Oil and Gas Field? 

The Caddo field is located largely in Caddo Parish, in the 
northwest corner of Louisiana. The proven field, however, 
extends into Marion County, Texas, and also into the north¬ 
east corner of Harrison County. The producing wells occupy 
a territory extending northwestward from Mooringsport, La., 
for about 12 miles and a long narrow belt extending north¬ 
eastward from the north end of the main field about 10 miles. 
The belt which contains the most productive wells is not more 
than 12 miles in extreme length, and the large producing wells 
are scattered through a strip four to five miles wide extending 
from Mooringsport to the north end of the field. 

Into what seven districts is the field sometimes divided? 

Though they merge more or less into each other they are 

known sometimes as “The Mooringsport District, The Oil City 
District, Jeems Bayou District, Monterey District, The Vivian 
District, The Black Bayou District, and The Pine Island Dis¬ 
trict.” 

What is the topography of the country? 

55 


A large part of it is so level that it is imperfectly drained. 
The largest flat tract being in the vicinity of Oil City and 
westward to Jeems Bayou, and northward to Lewis. Border¬ 
ing the level area are rolling hills, some of the very highest 
southeast of Vivian rising to 120 feet above low water in 
Caddo Lake and 300 feet above sea level. Low gas mounds 
occur on the level lands of the field varying in height from 
one to six feet. They are circular in shape and from 5 to 50 
feet in diameter, being separated by flat or basin shaped 
depressions, resembling in a great measure the many other 
gas mounds of the Coast Country of Texas and Louisiana. 

What about the development of this field? 

Though the presence of gas in Northeast Louisiana has 
been known for a great number of years it had not developed 
to any great extent until 1906, when the production of oil 
reached 3358 barrels. In 1907, 50,000 barrels were produced; 
in 1908, 499,937 barrels; in 1909, 1,028,818 barrels; in 1910, 
5,090,793 barrels; in 1911, nearly 7,000,000 barrels, and in 
1913, nearly 10,000,000 barrels. From that time on the field 
has rather been on the decrease than on an increase of produc¬ 
tion. The field now supplies Shreveport, La., Marshall, Tex., 
Texarkana and Little Rock and some smaller towns in Arkan¬ 
sas, with natural gas. 

What has caused great loss of gas and oil in the Caddo 
field? 

Disastrous fires often caused by carelessness of the driller, 
or from imperfectly finished wells which, when once on fire, 
become almost unmanageable. Some of them burned for 
several years, lowering the pressure of the other wells by the 
burning of billions of feet of gas. Louisiana now has a State 
Conservation Commission which insists on the wells being 
properly finished by cementing the casings at the bottoms and 
otherwise using precautions to prevent unnecessary waste. 

How were some of the burning wells extinguished? 

One noted one was killed in 1913 by drilling another well 
near it to relieve the gas pressure and then pumping mud into 
the burning well until the flow of gas was stopped. 

Another, the Star Oil Company’s well No. 3, was smothered 
by steam after the oil had been drawn from it into a distant 
reservoir before it could catch fire from the flames. This was 

56 


done by running a pipe line into the flames on trucks and 
forcing the end of the line of pipe over the connections at the 
top of the well casing. Thus the oil was drawn off and the 
amount of the fuel for the flames so lessened that it was pos¬ 
sible to smother them with steam. 

What is the character of the strata overlying the oil reser¬ 
voirs in the Caddo field? 

They are made up of layers of sands and clays and lime¬ 
stones arranged one above another of varying thicknesses and 
compositions. Near the surface, sand and clay predominate. 
At greater depths thick beds of chalk are encountered and the 
beds of clay and sand are more clearly defined. 

What is the nature of the oil reservoirs of this field? 

There seem to be several distinct strata which serve as 
reservoirs for oil and gas. The one nearest the surface known 
as the Nacatoch Sand is composed of light gray to greenish 
fine sand alternating with layers of indurated sandstone and 
thin layers of clay. Where it is not filled with oil or gas it 
contains salt water. This reservoir ranges in thickness from 
less than 100 feet to more than 200 feet. The depth at which 
it is found ranges at from 550 to 1000 feet, being shallowest 
in the southeast portion and deepest in the northwest portion. 

The second stratum that serves as a reservoir is found at a 
depth of from 1500 to 1800 feet and is known as the Blossom 
Sand member of the Eagle Ford Clay. Some large gas wells 
have been derived from this stratum, one made by the Arkan¬ 
sas Natural Gas Co. in 1913 yielding 18,000,000 cubic feet 
daily. Some low-gravity oil has been derived from it but only 
in small quantities. 

Lying 200 to 400 feet below this 1800-foot stratum is anoth¬ 
er known as the Woodbine Sand, which furnishes a very high 
grade oil and large quantities of gas. The porosity of this 
stratum is so variable that the distribution of oil and gas in 
it is very irregular. In places only a short distance from wells 
having a flow of several thousand barrels of oil daily may be 
found wells pumping only a few barrels per day. Drillers find 
also that wells close together may differ largely in the depth 
to the pay sand and the depth to salt water and the thickness 
of the pay sand. It seems that the porous reservoir stratum 
is so discontinuous or cut up by impervious shales, that hinder 

57 


a free movement of the oil and gas, that drilling is made very 
hazardous and uncertain. The gas from this sand has quite an 
odor of petroleum, burns with yellow flame and may be manu¬ 
factured into gasoline by subjecting it to great pressure and 
cooling it, while the gas from the Nacatoch sand is odorless 
and contains a smaller percentage of the higher hydrocarbons. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

“Have I Oil on My Land?” 

This is a question every owner of real estate wishes correct¬ 
ly answered, but unfortunately it is one that no one is qual¬ 
ified to answer with certainty. The writer is not foolish 
enough to claim to do else than offer the reader suggestions 
that may be helpful to him in deciding the question. He will 
give you the benefit of what he has gained by study and field 
work for the past several years, distinctly labeling it as “his 
own ideas,” so you will not accuse some United States Bulle¬ 
tin of something that might be fallacious in the sight of its 
author. In the pages of this book the writer has subserved 
his own opinions (only where he has labeled them as such), 
to those of scientific men, that the reader might confidently 
accept the information as the best obtainable. With this word 
of caution he assumes the role of instructor without further 
claim or apology. 

First: Find out whether your holdings are located on an 
anticlinal structure. An anticline, you know, is the line where 
the strata below have been bulged or buckled up by some 

internal force. (See Cut C, page 2, or Fig. 2, page 19.) 
Webster defines its axis or highest line as “a line where 
the strata dip in opposite directions.” It may be long 
enough to reach across a small State or but a short distance 
in extent. It must not be confounded with a divide. A 
divide is the high line between two streams which forms their 
watershed. It usually is formed by erosion or the washing 
away of the soil on each side, but might be formed, of course, 
by an anticline. An anticline is a long hill, if you please, in 
the strata. Erosion may have obliterated the hill at the sur¬ 
face and made the “divide hill” elsewhere. Remember, it has 
taken ages to form this old earth as it now exists. 

Geologists sometimes locate the anticlined structure in a 
rough section of country by the dip of the exposed strata of 

58 


rock. It might assist you, to find out how deep your neigh¬ 
bors had to dig to reach the first stratum of water. The shal¬ 
lowest wells would likely be along the axis or highest line of 
the anticline. In some sections these structures seem to be 
far separated and the strata very much bent up. In others, as 
in the Coastal section along the Gulf, the bend may not be so 
great and the structures closer together, as though the lateral 
pressure of the earth’s crust from internal shrinkage had in 
this section buckled or pushed up the earth’s crust in more 
places and to less extent than in many other sections of older 
geologic formation. In this newer geological formation the 
anticlines are perhaps more apt to form the divides than in 
those sections where erosion has been going on thousands of 
years longer. Here also is more likely to show on the axis of 
the anticline a soil differing from that which has been depos¬ 
ited on either side by erosion. Its difference in soil, and per¬ 
haps slight elevation, might cause enough difference in its 
vegetation to assist somewhat in tracing the structure. Quite 
often it is dotted with gas mounds. Some sections of country 
perhaps have indications peculiar to it, while it lacks others 
peculiar to other sections. 

If you decide you have no anticlinal structure below your 
holdings you might give up your quest for oil (as oil and gas 
seldom ever are trapped and held in a syncline where the 
strata bend downward, or where the strata make no bend at 
all), unless you want to prospect on someone’s else holdings. 

If you have the proper structure, find out if there is any 
area of a number of acres which is elevated at the surface 
slightly more than that of the other parts of the anticline. A 
flat elevation of this kind may have, of course, been formed 
by erosion and not indicate at all a bulge below. Again, there 
might exist below quite a bulged up area in the lower strata 
which would not show at the surface because erosion may 
have destroyed all signs of it. There might be a depression 
or dent in the anticline where ages ago the gas blew a hole 
in the top of the reservoir below. Even with surface indica¬ 
tions of a place Delow that might form a trap to collect and 
hold the gas and oil, do not forget that these materials, if here, 
must have been brought to this spot by some means and that 
the reservoir must have walls and roof of some impervious 

59 


material like gumbo or fine grained clay or muddy limerock, 
else internal pressure would have driven the oil and gas else¬ 
where to places having such qualifications. 

Second. Having located the area on which you wish to pros¬ 
pect further, choose a time after heavy rains when the ground 
is largely covered with water and try to find places on this area 
where bubbles are rising to the surface. Take with you a small 
can having a nail hole in the bottom (the top being entirely 
removed), plenty of matches, and a strong short stick sim¬ 
ilar to a heavy cane. When you locate a pool in which bubbles 
are rising to the surface, submerge your can in the water to 
drive out all the air, hold your thumb tightly over the nail 
hole, turn the can bottom up in the water, and let the bubbles 
collect in its bottom, at the top of the water. By using the 
blunt end of your stick, punching in the mud below the 
inverted can, you should be able soon to collect enough of the 
fluid rising in the bubbles to make a test to see if you have air 
or gas confined. If merely air, when you take your thumb 
from the nail hole and push the can down, the air forced 
through the hole will blow out the lighted match, which you 
have applied above it. If gas, it will burn, but remember that 
a gas flame so small is difficult to see, especially in sunlight, 
as it is almost non-luminous. Besides an almost transparent 
flame there will also be, if it is gas, a little heat and a little 
noise, so you need not be in doubt at all about its burning. 
This may be marsh gas from some decomposing vegetable 
accumulation below. Marsh gas also burns with a non-lumi¬ 
nous flame. If the gas bubbles are limited to a very few places 
it will, perhaps, be hard to decide whether it is marsh gas or 
if it is natural gas from some reservoir below which has 
filtered through from great depths to the surface, as both 
gases would be almost pure methane. If there is a stream 
near the anticlinal structure, make a test in it and in the 
neighboring wells. To do this easily, have a flange about four 
inches wide soldered to the mouth of a 12-inch funnel. This 
gives a better tool for the well or stream than the can. In the 
small end of the funnel solder a coupling for a one-quarter 
inch pipe, setting it close up and reinforcing it with solder 
until it will stand considerable strain. A short piece of pipe 
will do for the stream, but to test a well use a long one-quar- 

GO 


ter pipe so you can submerge the funnel in the water, as you 
did the can, while a stopcock at the surface end takes the place 
of your thumb to confine the gas or to liberate it after it is 
collected in your funnel below. By using a long pole you can 
by punching force the gas out of the mud in the bottom of the 
well if it exists there. If the bottom is very porous the gas 
will not have collected in the well in sufficient quantities to 
fill the funnel and long pipe above, but if composed of fine 
grained mud and if the earth’s crust at this point is satur¬ 
ated with gas the test should prove successful in that the gas 
burns readily and with a hot flame. Even if gas, it may take 
one or more funnels full to drive the air out of your long pipe 
so you will get a pure enough product to burn. If your anti¬ 
cline is timbered and your soil saturated with gas you should 
be able to collect and burn the gas in the water holes where 
trees have been uprooted. 

Crystals of sulphur, or formations of wax in the soil depos¬ 
ited there by gas, or sour water or sulphur water in wells and 
springs, are valuable evidences of oil, especially if found in a 
section having the geological formation and natural gas pre¬ 
viously mentioned. 

The writer does not believe that there is any vegetation 
growing above that indicates oil below. Some people believe 
that little red splotches of vegetation called oil-blossoms, or 
other vegetable growth, are surface signs of oil, and it may 
be true. The writer has sometimes found on the ground sur¬ 
rounding a gas mound a material resembling dried oil or wax. 
Also what appeared to him to be a residuum of asphaltum. He 
believes these products were deposited in the mound by gas 
rising from below, were leached out of the mound, by rains and 
accumulated in noticeable quantities as the water evaporated. 

It has been often said that the best sign that there is oil 
confined below is that of a little oil seeping from the earth at 
some point, and it appears to be a reasonable saying. Be very 
careful though, even when the oil appears on the water. One 
man informed the writer that he had found oil in the water 
of a well, and he had, but it was a few drops from an oiled 
well-wheel above. Another found it in a creek, but it was 
from some old irons thrown in the water days before. If you 
are satisfied the scum present has actually come from the 

61 


earth’s interior with the water, test it to be sure that it is oil, 
and not a film of some other mineral substance such as iron. 
When the scum is really of oil and you agitate the water it 
spreads out evenly, showing its rainbow coloring. If iron or 
other mineral, the film usually breaks in pieces which become 
scattered. 

Even though all these surface signs were finally located on 
your holdings, the drill alone can definitely locate the oil 
deposit and prove its existence in commercial quantities, so 
you wifT have answered definitely and truthfully the question 
for which you seek an answer. 

It has taken the writer several years to learn the little infor¬ 
mation given in this book, but he wishes at its close to remind 
the reader of what he stated in the preface to this book: “That 
each succeeding year has but taught him how little he knows 
and how imperfectly he knows the little.” 

THE SPIRIT THAT HAS DEVELOPED OIL FIELDS. 

The writer should like to own a book truthfully chronicling 
the events of the earliest history of the numerous oil fields. 
Those events that happened before oil was secured when but 
very few had faith that it existed. He would likely find that 
most of the early knowledge of the indications was gathered 
bit by bit, taking a great while to accumulate it, and that it 
;was done by one or two persons who were perhaps ridiculed 
by others of that section. It is now, so far as he knows, 
unwritten history. 

Writers have dwelt upon the vast amounts of money 
expended; the great difficulties encountered; the billions of 
cubic feet of gas wantonly sacrificed in the search for oil; the 
millions of barrels of oil secured; the millions of dollars of 
. wealth created; the millionaires made; but little has been writ¬ 
ten of the men whose faith and persistence in the face of great 
odds helped work the miracle that has changed a vast section 
of outlying cattle pasture of little money value to an oil field 
with its forest of derricks and its development costing mil¬ 
lions of dollars. 

In the Humble field the man who figured most in the early 
unwritten history was J. H. Slaughter. Many years ago 
when on a logging trip up the San Jacinto River, he camped 

62 


on the bank of that stream near the present site of the field. 
When he tried to light his camp fire he was very much sur¬ 
prised to see a jet of flame spring from the ground and 
burn for a short time. After studying over the phenomenon 
he became convinced that it was gas that caused the flame and 
was thereafter on the lookout for other signs that might indi¬ 
cate the presence of an oil field. 

While hunting in that section some time afterward he 
noticed the water in a pool boiling and bubbling, and on inves¬ 
tigation discovered other pools with bubbles coming to the 
surface. He also found that the bubbles yielded gas when 
they collapsed and that the gas burned readily. Becoming 
fully convinced that an oil field existed in that section, he sold 
his business and home in Houston and moved to Humble, pur¬ 
chasing the Isaacs’ place, which had shown much surface gas. 
He later induced two of his friends with money and influence, 
residing in Houston, to accompany him to Humble to see the 
gas burn in spots he had discovered. Since he was so sure in 
his mind that a great field was located, he asked his friends 
to make the trip by night and he secretly took them out and 
burned the gas in several places where he accumulated and 
piped it for that purpose. While his tests were convincing to 
his friends, they did not wish to risk their money in extensive 
tests to locate the field, so nothing special was gained by their 
' visit. 

Not having the money to exploit the field himself, Mr. 
Slaughter sought other aid at numerous times, but to no avail. 
Finally, he gave wide publicity to the gas seepages. Once 
when a big barbecue was in progress in Humble, he made his 
tests, of the gas for the crowds gathered there, determined to 
arouse interest at any sacrifice, hoping some one with capital 
would exploit the field. A company was formed eventually 
and a contract let for a well, but matters drifted along with 
but little interest and the test was abandoned. A few shallow 
tests were made later but without success, and people of that 
section lost interest in the matter, almost forgetting the inci¬ 
dents. But not J. H. Slaughter. Though getting to be an old 
man, he kept his faith and his interest did not lag nor his zeal 

abate. In the summer of 1904, C. E. Barrett of Houston, 
being convinced that oil was present below, drilled a few tests 

(33 


on Echols’ Ridge, but after a number of serious blowouts, he 
abandoned the field. Mr. Slaughter tells the writer that when 
the first successful well was brought in by Mr. Beatty, Jan¬ 
uary 7, 1905, producing about 8000 barrels per day, that his 
wife refused to come at his call to see the oil spouting above 
the derrick because she had become incensed at his lack of 
interest in their own affairs and because of his failure to look 
after their business interests as he should have done, subserv¬ 
ing them to his feverish interest in the development of the 
field. For years his close friends and his neighbors thought 
him crazy when he pictured his visions of gushing oil and the 
mad struggle that would follow to secure it, when it became 
to him and others an unquestioned reality. 

Let us remember with interest and respect the man who 
sacrificed so much of time and comfort to see this great dream 
of his life realized. Let us learn lessons of faith and persist¬ 
ence in the face of discouragement and ridicule, tempering 
them, of course, with reason and wisdom, bearing in mind 
“That he who makes two blades of grass grow where but one 
formerly flourished is a public benefactor.” 


He’s a coward who quits to misfortune, 

He’s a weakling who falters each day. 

He’s a fool who wins half the battle, 

Then throws his good chances away. 

The time to succeed is when others 
Discouraged show traces of tire; 

The race may seem lost till the home-stretch, 
Then be won ’twixt the flag and the wire. 

Set your face like a flint to the battle, 

Steel your nerve to the work of your task, 

Like a hero hold out till you conquer. 

Success must be yours at the last. 

But temper your ardor with wisdom, 

Make your task one that’s worthy and right; 

Before you have willed its completion, 

Be sure that it’s worth the great fight. 


64 




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